


The Sphere

by Sashabutters



Category: Original Work
Genre: Boarding School, Brother-Sister Relationships, Crime Fighting, Depression, Family, Family Loss, Fantasy, Friendship/Love, Future Fic, Gen, Mental Illness, Parent-Child Relationship, Police, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Fiction, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-23 16:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 60,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6123049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sashabutters/pseuds/Sashabutters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a school in virtual reality where only the elite are chosen- or so they say. They train the best and brightest of this generation to become protectors of the virtual world. Why then was Becca Strokes, a an 18 year old with ptsd, chosen? What secrets is this rumored school keeping? Not all is as it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Becca Strokes sat on her bed gripping the paper in her hands with nervous anticipation. Today would be the day to start the trials for the Sphere Protection Program or SPP. It was a school dedicated on training soldiers using virtual reality to stop cyber crime. She had wanted to become a cyber officer for as long as she could remember, and now she held in her hands to first steps to making that dream come true -an acceptance letter. While it wasn’t an acceptance letter to the school itself, it was still a step in the right direction.

After writing a kick ass essay (in her opinion) as to why she wanted to become an officer, she had passed the first, and easiest, test. Now it was on to the next. Only she had no idea what kind of test she’d be facing. All that was given to her was an IP address with a note congratulating her on making it to this next step in the selection process. 1:10,000…Those were the odds of making it this far. Actually getting accepted into the program… 1:100,000. There was a rumor that most people failed at the final challenge because it was something so horrible and painful, but the only people that really knew were the people who failed. No one was allowed to talk about what goes on for fear of getting disqualified permanently.

Becca stood up and made her way down stairs in the hopes of getting some form of reassurance from her parents. She could smell the dehydrated bacon capsules boiling, but the butterflies in her stomach prevented her from eating anything. Whoever thought of the term butterflies clearly didn’t have their future on the line, she thought as she sat at the table. It felt more like genetically modified wasps having a fight to the death in her insides rather than something as gentle as butterflies.  
Becca shook her head when her mother offered her various dehydrated capsules ranging from toast, eggs, bacon, cereal, pancakes, French toast, waffles, and oatmeal. She felt so nervous she thought she might hurl if she ate anything. She didn’t know if there was a rule against puking during the test, but there’s no way it would help her that’s for sure.

“You’ll do fine.” Her father said in between scenes of the news as the holographic image of a newscaster no larger than a cereal box projecting in the middle of the kitchen table listing off various current events.

“I hope.” Becca mumbled sipping some orange juice and bouncing her knees. Before she knew it the time to leave for the testing site had fast approached. With a hug and kiss from her parents, she headed back upstairs to her partial dive connecter. With trembling fingers, she typed the IP address of where she wanted to go and leaned back on her bed before slipping the helmet on. Just about everything was done via avatar now a days since they came out with a home console a few years back. Full Dives you still had to go to a center for, but partials you could now do from the comfort of your own home. 

The imagery blurred on the screen as Becca closed her eyes and slowly counted down in her head. She always hated this part even if it only lasted a few seconds. When she counted down to four, a flurry of imagery flashed in the screen as she felt the lightheadedness of zipping past millions of other IP addresses to get to her destination. She squinted her eyes to make sure it was over before relaxing and standing up.

“Can I help you?” a voice asked causing her avatar to spin on the spot as she came face to face with a professionally dressed blonde woman who couldn’t have been out of her 20’s. At least that’s the way she made herself appear to others in The Sphere.

“I’m here for the SPP exam.” Sasha said scanning the building she found herself in. She was a little disappointed to find herself in an ordinary looking office. People sat behind desks, sipping coffee out of habit rather than taste and talking amongst themselves.

“Come with me.” She said turning on her heels as Sasha swallowed and followed her through various plain looking hallways until they entered into a large conference room with about a dozen or so others sitting in chairs. “Please wait here for further instruction.” Sasha sat down in the nearest chair across the table from a pale looking girl with violet eyes and green hair who seem preoccupied with gazing out the window. Sasha sat nervously glancing around the room, but there wasn’t much to look at. The room had plain white walls, with only one picture of a sunset above a mountain range. There was a potted fern behind her chair and a single window overlooking the virtual town slightly obscured by the navy blue curtain.

Awkward silence hung in the air while each person imagined what horrors they would be facing. Or at least that’s what Sasha was doing. She fiddled nervously with her long brown hair and imagined what sort of things they would be doing. She had imagined the IP address leading her to some sort of battle arena where all SPP hopefuls would be forced to fight to the death. She had never imagined it taking her to some ordinary looking office. She felt sort of silly now for equipping her avatar with knives and other concealed weapons. She should probably put them back in her inventory before she got into some kind of trouble. It’s not like anyone could actually get hurt though; they were all avatars after all. Sasha went back and forth in her mind about what she was carrying on her before finally deciding to keep everything where it was. She didn’t want to cause a scene pulling it all out. 

In order to pass the time, she glanced around the conference room at each person sitting in it. She always liked to imagine who was really there behind the avatar. She highly doubted the man sitting next to her had those kinds of muscles, and the set of perky boobs he seemed to be transfixed on across the table from him probably belonged to some 50-year-old-man, not the twenty something red head who looked like she shouldn’t even be able to sit up with that kind of weight attached to her chest. Becca blinked is surprise when her eyes fell on the girl from earlier. She could have sworn she had green hair, but now it was a deep blue and her expression showed a mixture of fear and doubt. She glanced around in confusion, but no one else seemed to have noticed the change so Sasha chalked it up to her over imagination. You could only change your appearance in your home screen or in designated areas anyway that sold clothes and whatnot.

After another hour of waiting the room began getting restless. Mr. MuscleHead stood from his chair and began pacing the room while another groaned loudly about being forced to wait. Becca locked eyes with the green haired girl again. Wait, wasn’t her hair blue just a minute ago? Her hair color had changed she was sure of it. She really did have green hair, so then why was it blue a minute ago? Had she figured out a way to bypass the system lock on changing the way you look? The girl seemed to smirk at Becca for a second and roll her eyes. Was she rolling her eyes at her because Sasha noticed her hair changing colors? Perhaps she shouldn’t stare at her; it was rather rude. The girl jerked her head sideways as Sasha turned her attention to Mrs. TopHeavy . She seemed to be causing a commotion about the wait time. Some people gave their agreement, while others like themselves rolled their eyes at her over dramaticness of the situation. Sasha nodded and smiled to the girl who appeared to be slightly older than herself. After a quick glance back up, Sasha had to cover her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh out loud and draw attention to herself. The girl with the changing hair was silently mimicking the red head with her lips and hands.  
Mrs. TopHeavy finally announced she was fed up with waiting and rose to head home but froze. The door everyone had come in through was gone. There was nothing but a solid beige painted wall in its place.

“Where’s the door?” She demanded pounding her fist on the wall. All heads turned their attention to her. Becca could see a faint sparkling light where the door had been when she looked at it through her Sphere Vision mode; A sign that the room had been tampered with. Sphere Vision was mostly used in-game, but you could use it anywhere in the Sphere to view user names, send and view messages, and of course checking to see if things had been altered by outside forces.

“Guess they don’t want us leaving before hand.” A twenty something year old looking man calmly said. He wore a navy blue fedora and his face had a five o clock shadow. Becca wanted to call him Anthony; He just seemed like an Anthony to her. She was disappointed when she viewed his User Id and it listed him as Arnold. He’d make a better Anthony she thought.

Mrs. TopHeavy sat back down in a huff as a few people glanced around the room anxiously. A hand wave from the girl across from her earlier caught Sasha’s attention. She blinked in surprise to find her hair not green or blue, but jet black. Her hair really was changing colors. Sasha pointed to her own head and mouthed your hair to her. She cocked her head to the side in confusion before Sasha mentally opened up her in-game messenger and thought up a quick sentence before thinking the words Send Message. The girl across from her moved her eyes as she read the text in front of her invisible to everyone else.

A blinking red light a few seconds later in her upper vision notified Sasha of a new message. Open Sasha thought and the girl’s response displayed in front of her. That’s the fifth thing that’s changed since coming here. Sasha quickly gave the room a once over. Other than the door disappearing Sasha didn’t notice anything at first, until she spotted the potted palm tree behind her. Wasn’t it a fern before? And the picture of a sunset; it had been replaced by a picture of a sailboat! That’s three things, she thought scanning the room more closely. The glass see through desk was the same, but Sasha realized the color of the carpet was not. Where’s the fifth thing? The walls she realized. They were white before and now they were beige. She sent a message back to the girl stating her observations.

I didn’t notice the carpet or picture. Look at the window; there’s now blinds instead of curtains. Clearly they are testing our observational skills. Interested in teaming up? My name’s Crystal by the way.

Sasha read the note before smiling and nodding her head in agreement. Two pairs of eyes were better than one, she thought. She made up a quick introduction and sent it to her along with her username, Sasha, but she probably already knew that. The two spent the remaining time checking out their surroundings and sending their reports.

What color is your hair supposed to be? Sasha asked to kill time.

Green, what color is it now? Crystal asked.

Hot pink. Sasha responded smiling as Crystal’s violet eyes widened as she searched for a mirror. Just kidding. Becca sent causing the other to roll her eyes playfully. They sent further messages back and forth. Some were other differences they had spotted while others were simple observations, like the guy sitting to next to Becca’s right that was pretending to scratch his nose while actually picking.

Definitely not fooling anyone. Anything else change?

The ceiling fan is turning clockwise instead of counter clock wise, the smoke detector disappeared and Sasha has turned into a man.

WHAT? Sasha sent in a panic patting her lap for anything that shouldn’t be there. A just kidding appeared, but Sasha looked down the front of her shirt just incase. This room was changing everything from decorations to physical appearance. Maybe it was possible to change someone’s gender as well. They were all just avatars after all.

“Hello, and thank you all for waiting.” The lady who had walked Sasha to the room suddenly appeared. She breathed a small sigh of relief to see the door back and that she was no longer trapped inside this room full of strangers. “We are ready to begin the testing process. We will call you back one at a time for a quick interview and then you are free to go. First I must ask that if you are carrying any weapons, please put them back in your inventory as they will not be needed during this portion of the test.”

After a few seconds of silence people began pulling out a few guns and knives they had kept holstered to themselves before scanning them back into their inventory. Sasha sighed before standing up and removing her coat. She was afraid that this was going to happen. She pulled her semi-automatic and 9mm she kept tucked into the back of her skirt. She then un-tucked her shirt and pulled out the shotgun she had slung around her shoulder, two black hunting knives around each ankle, and removed the utility belt of ammunition she had strapped around her waist that also contained a few grenades and smoke bombs. Once those were on the table she reached into her blouse and pulled out a small stun gun and canister of pepper spray.  
Someone whistled at her growing pile of weaponry as Sasha looked up to find everyone in the room staring at her wide eyed including Crystal. Sasha smiled anxiously as she pulled out a few shotgun shells out of each pocket.

“Are you done?” The secretary asked raising her eyebrows.

“Almost,” Sasha said grimacing apologetically as she unholstered a glock from her right thigh and a revolver from her left along with two switchblades, and a bone saw. “I think that’s everything.” Becca laughed anxiously.

“All of it please, you’ll be going through a metal detector.” The secretary said.

“Fine.” Sasha grumbled reaching up the back of her blouse and retrieving a Smith and Wesson along with a silencer before upending her purse as various forms of ammunition spilled out onto the table.

“Damn, girl.” Arnold-better-known-as-Anthony-said as the room fell completely silent.

“I’ll need to go somewhere private to remove the rest.” Sasha said apologetically as everyone stared mouths agape.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasha slid the glowing red palm of her hand across the last of her artillery before it vanished back into her inventory. Scanner off.

 

“Now that everyone is sorted out.” The secretary said with a hint of annoyance gazing towards Sasha as the cause of the hold up. “We will now begin calling everyone back one at a time for the interview process.” Sasha nodded her head in understanding as everyone listened to the welcoming speech. She tried to remember everything that had changed in the room. Crystal’s hair was first wasn’t it? Or was it the plant? Or the picture? Why did she have to sit with her back to the plant?

 

An incoming message snapped her from her thoughts as she read it through.

 

What’s with the Rambo get-up? Crystal asked.

 

I kind of thought this was going to be a fight to the death to be honest. I wasn’t sure what I needed to equip so I kind of, well, equipped everything. Do you think it was overkill?

 

Crystal snorted out loud as her eyes danced across the invisible words in front of her. Six guns, four grenades, nine knives, a bone saw, three smoke bombs, a silencer, AND a shotgun. Yeah, I think you went a little overkill. Do I even want to know what you pulled out in the back room and from which crevice you evacuated it from?

 

If this was a full dive, Sasha’s face would probably be glowing bright red right now. Probably not. She sent back.

 

How did you even manage to conceal all that? I knew you had a something big across your back by the way you were sitting, but I never would have guessed you were packing that much.

 

Practice, Sasha sent with a shrug.

 

“Sasha Brindey,” A voice rang out as Sasha gulped. Why did she have to go first? She took a few deep calming breaths and stood up. If this was reality she was sure she would puke. “Come this way, please.” The Secretary said leading her down another hallway covered in mundane portraits of nature. Sasha could never understand why they tried to make virtual reality look so much like, well, reality. You could do anything and everything. So why have ordinary, plain boring offices?

What annoyed Sasha the most were the rules against using her in-game settings in non-designated areas. She knew it was to keep people in full dives safe, but c’mon? Who’d waste the money in a full dive here? It all really boiled down to appearance. Using hyper speed in an office tended to look unprofessional. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

“Please allow me to scan your chip,” she said as one of her palms began to glow bright red as Sasah stuck out her forearm for the woman to scan. The woman quickly waved it over Sasha's wrist as an image of Sasha appeared on the wall. After all these years it still seemed strange to see herself as Sasha and not as Becca. She always expected to see black hair and green eyes when looking at her reflection, not brown hair and blue eyes. She still got her two selves confused sometime as she sill introduced herself as “Becca” in game and “Sasha” in reality. “Is this correct?” The woman asked as a picture of Becca appeared on the wall after Sasha disappeared.

 

“Yes.” Sasha answered as she shifted nervously from foot to foot once she confirmed everything in her Sphere profile.

 

“Please have a seat.” She said directing the young looking girl to a group of armchairs in the corner. “What I’m going to do is ask you a few questions of how the Sphere came to be to check your history.” Sasha frowned. A history lesson? What about the changing room? What about fighting to the death? “In your own words, why did we create the Sphere?” she asked gazing sharply at Sasha with her hazel colored eyes.

 

“It was originally created so that people could re-learn how to communicate with each other face to face after becoming dependent on the anonymity of technology. The human race began losing needed social skills due to its reliance on communication from behind a screen, so we developed a program to try and integrate humanity back into real person-to-person meetings, but still giving them a way to remain anonymous.”

 

“And do you know what year that came out?”

 

“Around the 2200’s.” Sasha answered.

 

“Now please send me a message.” The woman said. Sasha was a little taken a back. Why was this so easy? Everyone could send a message. All you to do to was think. Open Messenger. Becca turned on her Sphere Vision to see the woman’s username. Victoria Malteese. Hi, I’m Sasha. End Message. Send to Victoria Malteese. “Alright. Good.” Victoria said. The way her eyes moved rapidly back and forth told Sasha she was also writing a message, but after a few seconds she realized she wasn’t writing to Sasha, she was writing about Sasha. “Now I have a few questions about the room you were waiting in. Including yourself, how many people were in it?”

 

“Fourteen.” She answered after a moment to reflect.

 

“Did you notice anything unusual about anyone there?” Victoria asked.

 

“One of the girls hair changed colors several times, and one of the girl’s chests defied gravity.” Sasha said. Victoria ignored her comment about Mrs. TopHeavy and proceeded with the interview.

 

“How many times did it change?”

 

“Four times. It was green when I first entered, but changed to blue, back to green, and then black to brown.”

 

“Can you name as many people as possible that were in the room?” Crap. She only knew two or three. She was paying attention to changing environment, not the people she was in the room with.

 

“Crystal, Arnold, Sasha…” Becca said trying and failing to think of others. Should she make up names? No, Victoria would know if she was just making stuff up. “That’s all that I know of.”

 

“How many things are you aware of that changed?”

 

“Seven,” Sasha answered feeling more confident about this question as she listed the differences her and Crystal found.

 

“How many weapons was Sasha concealing?” The corners of Sasha's lips turned upward in a slight smile. So that’s why they didn’t check her before entering the waiting room.

 

“Twenty three that I pulled out in front of everyone, and four in private. I feel much better now that those are out of there.” Sasha said in an attempt to make her laugh. Victoria remained as emotionless and stone faced as ever causing Sasha to shift uncomfortably in her chair. Laughter was her defense mechanism for when she was nervous, which sometimes led to her saying inappropriate things at inappropriate times. Like now for instance. Awkward silence filled the room causing her to inwardly cringe.

 

“How long did it take you to conceal all of those weapons?” Victoria finally asked.

 

“Fifteen minutes.”

 

“Why do you want to join the SPP?”

 

“To make it safe for everyone to join, and to stop cyber attacks against children.”

 

“What is the most common sign something has been tampered with?”

 

“A dim flashing light appears.”

 

“That’s all for this interview. Someone will be in touch with your results later on today.” Victoria said standing to her feet and straightening out the hem of her skirt. “It was nice meeting you, Sasha.” Sasha frowned as her thoughts waged war in her head. How was that interview supposed to make her stand out from the rest? She let out a heavy sigh in defeat. There was no way she would make it after that. She had only remembered two names. Why hadn’t she just stayed in Sphere Vision? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She was so frustrated she just wanted to kick something. Guess all there was left to do now was logout and drown her sorrows in zombie brains. Nothing soothed Becca's nerves quite like blowing holes in the heads of zombies.

 

Before she knew it she had reached the lobby where she had arrived and after thinking of a few commands, she found herself at her home page. An image of Sasha’s current look displayed in the middle of the room. The first thing she’d do is change out the business professional attire and slip into something more comfortable. With every wave of her hand, a new outfit appeared on the image of her avatar. Swimsuit. Nope. Skirt. Nope. Hideous bridesmaid dress from her cousin’s wedding last month. Definitely not. Sasha finally settled on a red T-shirt and cargo capris, before repeating the process for hairstyles.

 

Perfect, she thought as she equipped herself with her chosen outfit, now to pick a game. What would help her take her mind off everything? Shooting zombies? Racing hovercrafts? Martial arts? She flicked through her collection of playable worlds before glancing at the countdown timer on the wall. She had two hours left before the system would automatically log her out for safety reasons. When the Sphere first became available for in-home use, there were a few cases where people never logged out and starved to death. Even Becca herself had a few embarrassing incidents where she had logged out only to find she had wet herself from being in games for too long. A few years later they had programmed a fail-safe to automatically log you out after six hours of continual Sphering as a reminder to take care of yourself.

Rumor had it that there was a drug on the market that allowed you to stay in a full dive for weeks at a time, but was only available to the rich. Somehow it slowed your metabolism way down along with your sense of time. A day in the Sphere would only be an hour or so in reality. One of the main users of the drug was the SPP; it was how they shoved a year of training into less than a week in real time. The thought of getting to live full time in the Sphere sounded amazing to Becca. Too bad she blew the interview.

 

Sure, she didn’t actually KNOW she blew it, but with as tough as the selection process is, Becca assumed they were looking for perfect scores. Her performance was average at best. 1:100, 000, no way they would accept average Becca. She sighed as she continued flipping through her list of games. She’d drive herself crazy if she kept dwelling on this. The corners of her lips turned in a smile as her eyes rested on the image of game she hadn’t played in years. She used to love it when she was younger. It was a game where you could be a superhero and choose from several superpowers while fighting crime.

 

“Load Heroes of Justice.”  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

“Whoooo!!!” Sasha yelled as she flew in and out between the clouds. How many years had it been since she last played this? She flew over the town enjoying the scenery. How awesome would this be if she was in a full dive? She wondered what it would be like to feel the sensation of flying. Would her stomach do flips when she nosedived towards the pavement? Would she hurt herself punching criminals in the face? How much would it hurt getting sucked into a jet engine? On second thought, she was fine with a partial dive.

 

Sasha slowly floated through the virtual clouds parting them with her hands and drawing designs. She could see the sun beginning to set as she hovered in the sky to watch. There’s always next year.

 

You’ve reached your time limit for the day. Logging Out.

 

Becca groaned as she reached up and took the helmet off to reveal the walls of her bedroom. She slowly sat up in bed as lightheadedness took hold from lying down for so long. A beeping noise coming from the other end of her room caught her attention. She slowly made her way to the other side of the room to her cell phone sitting on her desk. She had three new emails she hadn’t checked before logging out. Junk Mail, junk mail and more ju-She froze as her fingers trembled on the screen. It was a message was the testing site. Becca took a few deep breaths before hesitantly clicking on the message expecting a rejection email. She quickly scanned the email looking for the words “We regret to inform you,” but they never came. She read and re-read the message several times before it finally made sense and she wasn’t just imagining it.

 

Congratulations, you have made it to the next phase of testing. Please report to address 134.853.134.0897 Tuesday, November 17that 8 am. Please see below for results of testing.

 

Observational skills: Average

 

Teamwork: Excellent

 

Preparedness: Excellent

 

Additional notes and comments: Never seen anyone come with so much ammunition before. Wasn’t sure if she was there for the SPP or to wage war against the establishment.


	3. Chapter 3

After looking at the email for nearly ten minutes in disbelief, Becca ran down the hall as fast as her jellified legs could carry her screaming in excitement the entire way to the kitchen.

 

An hour later a piping hot dehydrated chocolate cake sat on the kitchen table as means of celebrating after Becca’s mom boiled her favorite capsules for dinner. Becca talked a mile a minute in excitement not even stopping between bites of food. Her parents of course knew all about the SPP having had to hear all about from her since she was at least 10-years-old, but they smiled politely anyway knowing how important this was to her.

 

Becca couldn’t help, but stop and ponder the results for a minute. It was obvious the trial was meant to test her observational skills, but teamwork and preparedness? What did those mean? She thought back a moment at the ever changing room and its inhabitants. She didn’t remember saying anything to Veronica, the lady interviewing her, about teaming up with anyone. Did Crystal mention anything during her interview perhaps, and if not how did they know? Was it because their answers matched? Or maybe they knew because Becca answered questions correctly about things that were out of her line of sight and they assumed someone told her.

 

The real reason hit Becca like a ton of brinks. It was because they were watching her in the waiting room. Of course! They could probably see her messages as well. Crystal had literally sent her a message asking to team up and Becca had agreed despite knowing they were actually rivals. She never would have guessed they would be checking for teamwork in that situation, but the more she thought about it the more sense it made. They would be partnered with someone for three years of school, not to mention however long they’d be partnered with someone on cases. Sp’s always worked in pairs.

 

All that was left was to figure out preparedness. What did that mean? Her answers about the Sphere’s history? Everyone knew that though. How would they be able to judge preparedness based on questions you didn’t know would be asked?

 

Becca narrowed it down to all of her weaponry. That had to be it. They did ask for everyone to pull everything out and put it on the table. If they were watching her take everything out in the conference room, were they watching her in the supply closet while she pulled out paralysis gas canister she had hidden up there. Hey, if she couldn’t feel anything from the chin down she was going to take advantage of every natural pocket her body created although now she was regretting it a bit. Frickin Nacrebo effect. Get shot in the chest twice? Totally fine, but shove a kunai up her butt and she felt like she’d never be able to sit comfortably again. She may have even lied slightly about the time it too to get it up there as well.

 

“Any idea what happens next?” Trevor Strokes, Becca’s father asked.

 

“No idea,” said Becca. “It just said to go to the address.”

 

“Honey, why are you hovering over the chair like that? Please, sit down.” Becca’s mom, Heather, insisted.

 

“I can’t, It hurts.” Becca whined.

 

“Get shot in the butt again?” Trevor asked with a laugh.

 

“No, I ran out of pockets.” Becca moaned.

 

“Lalalala,” Trevor said covering his ears.

 

“So I had to…“

 

“Lalalala”

 

“Stick it up my…“

 

“Lalalala.”

 

“You know, normal people just carry a purse.” Heather said frowning at the strange entity that was her teenage daughter.

 

“Has anyone seen the remote?” Trevor asked searching the tabletop. “You’d think after all these years they’d come out with something remote less.”

 

“Yeah, just a sec,” Becca said pretending to reach into the back of her pants as her parents shook their heads. “Sooo…” she said after a couple of minutes once all the remaining dishes had been cleared.

 

“Yes?” Trevor asked looking at the suspicious smile that spread across his daughters face. “What do you want?”

 

“Keys?” Becca asked holding her palms out and scrunching up her face.

 

“Why?”

 

“So I can go to Brian’s.” She explained.

 

“Why?”

 

“So I can tell him the good news.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Please,” Becca begged.

 

“I don’t know…last time you didn’t obey curfew.” He said dangling them in front of her face.

 

“I will this time; I promise.” Said Becca as she reached for them only for them to be pulled away from her grasp at the last minute.

 

“And you promise you won’t lose them?”

 

“I promise! I’ll keep them safe where no one can get to them.”

 

“Seeing as how you’ve been unable to sit properly all night; that sentence concerns me.” Heather said causing Becca to playfully stick out her tongue.

 

“Home by midnight.” He said handing over the keys.

 

“Thank you!” Becca yelled already hallway to the garage.

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

Snow fell in large waves from both sides of the hover bike as Becca floored it in the wide open field. Virtual reality was fun, but nothing beat the real life thrills of having cool air whipping through your face doing 200mph in an empty forest. She breathed in the fresh smell of the nearby growing pine trees that surrounded her on all sides. Her village was already setting up Christmas lights and decorations in the trees and as a result the night sky was filled with many reds and greens that illuminated Becca’s path. She zipped around, taking a few sharp turns and enjoying the thrill of feeling her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

 

Too bad the Sphere couldn’t give her this kind of a rush. Well, nothing in her price range could anyway. The Sphere could try and imitate life all that it wanted, but she always knew deep down it wasn’t real no matter how badly she wanted it to be. The Sphere was an escape from reality; nothing more. As fun as it was, sooner or later you had to log off and come back to the real world.

 

Becca pulled to a stop as she admired her handiwork of different designs she had made by flying over the snow. There was a figure eight in one corner and a smiley face in the other. So she wasn’t an art major by any means, but she still had fun and that’s what counted, right?

 

She breathed in deep lungful’s of the fresh mountainous air and sat on the still rumbling bike between her legs. Becca glanced at the clock on her dash that read 8:27pm. She should probably head over to Brian’s like she said she was seeing as how she’d already been out here for two hours goofing off. If she left now she’d reach her brothers place in 15 minutes from where she was, but first Becca decided she needed to make a pit stop once she noticed herself jiggling up and down on the bike.

 

After turning off the ignition, she shivered in the chilly night air once the heat shield left with the engines power leaving her to brace the icy elements. She quickly hopped off into the snow as her legs wobbled unsteadily from riding for too long. Becca hobbled over to an old metal pole her village used to use to get electricity back in the day. She leaned her back against it to support herself in her unsteady state as she slowly shimmied her pants down.

 

“Guys have it so easy,” She softly complained exposing her bare butt to the elements before relaxing and allowing her bladder to empty into the white powder below. It wasn’t until she had finished and began trying to tug up her pants that she realized there was a problem. She squirmed this way and that as she tried again and again to free herself but to no avail. Becca’s butt was completely stuck to the frozen pole she had leaned against. “No no no!” She moaned tugging and pulling, but her skin remained frozen in place. She had always remembered the warnings about never licking a frozen pole, but she had never heard of anyone getting their butt stuck before.

 

When Becca tried everything she could possibly think of to free herself short of ripping the skin off, she sighed in defeat and fished her cell phone out of her pants pocket.

 

“Hey, Brian…” Becca said in a suspiciously cheery tone when he answered after the third ring. “How much do you love me?”

 

“What did you do?” a male voice from the other end asked with a heavy sigh. He knew that tone of voice all too well. That was the, I did something stupid and I need help pitch.

 

“You remember that field you used to take me too when we were kids?”

 

“Yeahhh… You didn’t crash into a tree again, did you?”

 

“No nothing like that. It’s just, umm, kind of embarrassing.”

 

“Just say it, Becca. What kind of trouble are you in?”

 

“I’m stuck to an electrical pole.” Becca blurted out only to be met with silence on the other end. “Brian? Are you there?”

 

“And by stuck to an electrical pole, what exactly do you mean by that?” Becca sighed as she heard the strain in his voice as he tried not to laugh.

 

“Can you just come get me please? And bring some warm water!”

 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Brian sat hunched over his hover bike unable to contain his laughter, his little sisters scowl only making it increasingly funnier to him. When she had said she was stuck to a pole he had envisioned many different scenarios ranging from her climbing up and being unable to get down (it wouldn’t have been the first time) to her getting her pant leg stuck on something. Never had he imagined pulling up and seeing her with her pants around her knees and her butt cheeks completely frozen to a pole. This was priceless.

 

“Can you please help me? It’s cold!” She complained using her hands to cover her front.

 

“I’m sorry,” Brian said advancing closer with the thermos that contained her freedom. Hopefully. He cracked up even harder once he had gotten a closer look as she hung her head in shame. “You so owe me for this.” He said pouring the hot liquid over her backside in order to thaw it free. Becca winced as the warm water came in contact with her tender skin, but after a few wiggles she was able to pry herself free and pull up her pants.

 

“We must never speak of this again.” Becca said.


	4. Chapter 4

Steam began to fill the entire bathroom fogging over the bathroom mirror as hot water filled the old-fashioned looking porcelain tub. 18-year-old Becca Strokes shivered as she waited impatiently for it to finish as she slowly stripped down. Unable to take the cold any longer, she gingerly stepped in and sat down in the warm water that barely went halfway to her thighs. She closed her eyes and leaned back while continuously scooping warm water with her hands and dumping it over her chest until the tub finally filled up all the way as the sensor automatically shut the tap off.

“Much better,” She mumbled to herself while enjoying the sounds of the local nightlife right outside the bathroom window. Becca could her an owl hooting somewhere in the nearby trees as wind gently swept through the forest causing a cacophony of rustling leaves. She’d stay in the tub all night if she could. The tub’s built in heater kept the water at optimal temperature like a mini Jacuzzi so the post bath sprint to dry off and get warm was even less ideal than Brian’s taunting she was sure to face. Why’d she have to go and get herself stuck to an electrical pole? Who the hell even does that?

“Are you going to stay in there all night?” Becca heard coming from the other side of the door a half hour later.

“It’s tempting.” Becca responded.

“Don’t you want to see what I’ve been working on?” Becca frowned as she debated her options. She didn’t come all the way to Brian’s to sit in his tub all night. She really did love getting to see his projects. Sometimes he worked on various patches for the Sphere and sometimes he developed games. Other times he did sciency stuff that sent Becca’s head spinning with terms and ideas that went right over her comprehension level. Lately though he had been very secretive about his recent project and no matter how many times Becca asked to see or hear about it, Brian always said he couldn’t talk about it. Was he willing to share it now because he was finished or was it because he felt bad that she spent nearly an hour with her butt frozen to a pole?

“Not if I have to go out there.” She answered after a minute.

“Then I’ll tell you all about the different brain hormones that get released during Sphere dives while you’re trapped with no where to go.”

“You wouldn’t…”

“Did you know that during a partial dive…”

Ten minutes later Becca sat in front of the fireplace gripping a mug of hot chocolate while shivering from her wet hair. For someone who worked on such futuristic designs and proto-types he sure liked to live in such a primitive way. He didn’t even have a full body dryer in his bathroom! He had these primitive things called towels that you had to wrap yourself in to absorb the water off your body. He even had a fireplace! A fireplace! That burned things! Where in the world did he even find someone that was willing to build him a fireplace? The cottage certainly wasn’t originally designed that way.

“Sometimes it’s nice after a long day of virtual reality to sit back and enjoy just regular reality.” He’d say. Becca wondered if living in the past actually counted as living in regular reality. Other than that, she supposed he was right, but after tonight’s mishap, it only confirmed her love for the virtual world.

“So how familiar are you with full dives?” Brian asked after returning from his basement that he used as a laboratory.

“A bit I guess in theory. I’ve never actually been in a full dive before.” Becca admitted. The prospect of feeling pain never appealed to her seeing as she spent most of her time in virtual reality playing with guns and other weapons. Sure, there so much more to it than just pain. You could feel, touch, taste, sweat and actually build muscle since your body was convinced it was actually happening. It was also way out of her price range. The last thing she needed was to get addicted to something that expensive. Not everyone in this room had fancy high paying jobs since they hit puberty.

“What? You’ve never done a full dive before?” Brian asked shocked.

“Why would I want to do a full one? Hurts enough after just doing a partial.”

“What?” He asked cocking his head to the side a bit in confusion. “It hurts?”

“Yeah, that Necebro effect or whatever it’s called.” Becca said frowning at Brian’s smirk that began spreading across his face.

“That only exists in full dives; you can’t get hurt from a partial.” He said.

“I’m serious! My butt hurts!” She insisted.

“Yeah, because you froze it to a pole.” He said as Becca glared.

“I stuck a kunai up my butt today and now it hurts!” She complained

“Please never say that in public.” He said shaking his head. “Should I be more disturbed that you are sticking things up there, or that you are admitting you stuck something up there as nonchalantly as if you told me what you had for lunch?”

“I was in the Sphere. It’s not like I literally stuck something up there.” Becca said. “Mom told me I should get a purse.”

“Yeah, you might want to look into that.” Brian said grinning.

“So what are you working on?” Becca asked hoping he’d finally reveal his top-secret project. Brian shifted forward in his chair before pushing his glasses up his face.

“You have to swear not to tell anyone.” He said getting serious. “Not mom or dad, not anyone at the Sphere testing center. No one.”

“I promise.” Becca said leaning forward in her chair.

“I’ve been trying to figure this out for months and I finally made a breakthrough.” He said as his eyes danced with excitement. Becca realized the reason he was telling her now wasn’t because he felt bad for her; he was too excited with his progress to keep it to himself. “You know that drug used to manipulate your sense of time and slow your metabolism?” Becca nodded as Brian continued with his explanation. “It cost me an arm and a leg, but I managed to get a hold of a vial of it last year and I’ve been researching its chemical components.” Brian continued on for some time talking about the drug in his fancy science lingo that zipped right over Becca’s head. She just nodded wide eyed and pretended she understood. Finally he came to an end to his speech while his voice rose a bit in excitement. “Do you know what this means?” He asked as his eyes shined.

Becca nodded her head but the words, “No,” quickly came out.

“The government has kept this drug hush hush to the public for years to keep people from reproducing it. Only the rich has ever been able to afford it, but now that I’ve managed to find a way to reproduce it about a thousand times cheaper…” He said with a wide grin.

“So you made like a generic version?” Becca asked finally catching on as Brian nodded before glancing around the room and removing a small vial from his pocket.

“This could change so much, Becca. It could-“ Brian paused mid sentence as someone began pounding on the front door. They exchanged curious looks before Brian got up and headed to answer it. How weird, Becca thought. Who’d be knocking on the door 11 at night? She craned her neck around the headrest of her chair to get a good look as Brian approached the source of the commotion.

“Hello?” Brian called out from the closed front door.

“Can you help me?” A single male voice answered. “I crashed in the forest a little ways back and have been wondering around on foot for the last hour. You’re the first house I’ve found.” Brian visibly relaxed as he peeked through the hole in the door causing Becca wonder if he worried about something. He opened the door only to freeze in place. “Back inside.” The voice from earlier ordered, only now more forceful and harsh instead of pleading and desperate. Brian backed up slowly with his hands up as two men approached from the side with ski masks covering their faces and guns drawn pushed passed him.

Becca immediately jumped to her feet only to be met with the barrel of a gun. “Sit back down! Put your hands where I can see them!” She quickly let her self plop back down in the chair with her hands up as her eyes shifted from Brian to the gunmen in front of her.

“Where is it?” The average looking man from earlier asked. Becca recognized his voice as the one who had asked for help. She couldn’t blame her brother for answering the door for him. He didn’t look very threatening to Becca in his jeans and grey zip up hoodie, but his voice was forceful and demanding. She quickly tried to spot any kind of incriminating feature on any of them, but everything about him screamed plain and ordinary. He had the kind of face that could easily be overlooked in a crowd of people while the other two were covered head to toe.

“Where’s what?” Brian asked shifting his eyes from the man in front of him to his sister. Becca sat in the chair feeling powerless to stop them in the mix of all the chaos. She couldn’t understand what they were after, until one of the gunmen began tearing the cottage a part searching for something.

“You know perfectly well what I mean!” The man in the grey hoodie shouted. “Give me the drug!” Becca’s eyes widened in understanding; they were after her brother’s research. She jumped up in anger, but froze when she found a gun in her face for the second time in the manner of minutes. Her heart beat madly inside her chest like she had never felt before as her legs wobbled. Sweat began to bead from the top of her hairline and slowly make its way down her face from the high-pressure situation.

“There’s a lab down here!” One of the men called from the basement as the guy in the hoodie ordered the other to keep an eye on her and Brian before making his way down the stairs.

“Get over in the corner!” The second gunman said pointing his gun at the back of Brian’s head as a thick hand forcefully pushed him over towards her. “Both of you sit down and don’t even think about moving.” He threatened. Brian flashed her an apologetic look as if to say he knew this would happen.

“Why don’t you stop them?” Becca whispered. He could easily take them down in a matter of minutes, hell; even she could probably take this one by herself. An elbow to the groan here, an upper cut to the chin. All she needed to do was stun him long enough to get the gun and…

“No, Becca.” Brian whispered sternly. “This isn’t a game! This is real life! You can’t just re-spawn if something happened! When the first moment presents itself I want you to make a run for it.”

“No one’s going anywhere until we get what we came for!” The man said moving the gun back towards Becca.

“Look, I’ll give it to you, alright? Just leave my sister out of this.” Brian said slowly moving his hand towards his pocket.

“Keep your hands where I can see them!”

“Ok, look, what you’re looking for is in my right jacket pocket.” Brian said with his hands in the air motioning with his chin. “Just know it’s only a prototype and it’s untested.”

“What are you doing?” Becca asked as the man searched Brian’s pocket and retrieved the vial Brian had been so excited about minutes before.

“Just let them have what they came for. It’s better this way.” Brian said. Becca clenched her fists in anger. If he wasn’t going to do anything to stop them than she would. She could take him down. The sneer on the man’s face as he held the vial in his hands was the last straw for Becca. She wasn’t going to just sit back and let someone steal what her brother had worked so hard on. She charged and elbowed the 6-foot man in the gut before he even had time to register what had happened. She grabbed hold of his wrists and tried to yank the gun free from his hands, but a loud pop caused her to let go in surprise. The last thing Becca remembered before loosing consciousness was the sounds of gunfire and Brian clutching his side while blood spilled over his hands.


	5. Chapter 5

Becca was in and out of consciousness all through-out the night. The first time she came too was when her father began shouting her name. She briefly opened her eyes and made contact with his. Trevor was kneeling over her on the floor wearing an expression she had never seen before. He was ghostly pale and his green eyes were wide with fright as they moved all up and down her body. He seemed to be unsure of what to do with his hands as they hovered over her line of sight before retracting and repeating the process.

“Becca,” He said softly before she closed her eyes again unable to withstand the pain in her back any longer.

When she opened her eyes the second time she was lying on a gurney while bright lights everywhere forced her to squint. Becca could hear voices, but couldn’t make out what they who they belonged to or what they were saying. The amount of pain she was in was so extreme that if it wasn’t for lack of strength she probably would be screaming. She was far beyond using a Numeric Pain Scale and if there were a facial representation to express her discomfort, it would be holding a gun to its head and puling the trigger.

Someone in a surgical mask appeared in front her and began speaking, but she didn’t understand much of what was being said. “Hurts,” She finally managed to get out.

“That’s good,” They responded. What was possibly good about what she was feeling? She felt hands beginning to roll her over on her side, before something hard was slid underneath her. “On the count of three,” The same voice said before she felt herself get lifted and slid onto a table. “This will help.” They said injecting something into Becca’s back as she moaned and clutched at the sheets before gladly falling back into unconsciousness.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

When Becca finally woke for the third time she heard something she hadn’t expected- the sound of waves crashing on the shore. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself lying on her back in the sand of what appeared to be a beach. Becca slowly sat up feeling surprised to find she could fully move without any pain. How had she ended up from snow to sand, she wondered.

“You’re awake.” Becca heard turning to find a black haired lady in green scrubs stretched out on a beach towel next to her. “Just relax for a bit.” She said when she saw her confused expression. Becca moved her head to side and caught a glimpse of long brown hair growing out of her head instead of her normal black. She was Sasha? So that’s what was going on; this was virtual reality.

“Where am I really?” Becca asked.

“Recovering from surgery in the hospital.” The woman answered. “Do you remember anything that happened? Becca tried as hard as she could to remember, but all she could come up with was the sensation of pain and nothing else. “Hmm, let’s see.” The woman in scrubs said as she searched for something in her field of vision. “Becca Strokes? Is that correct?” Becca nodded. “Or would you prefer to be called Sasha here?” The woman continued without waiting for a reply. “You’re a lucky one. Says here you were shot in the back.”

“How does that make me lucky?” Becca blurted out.

“You’re alive; that’s something to be thankful for. Also says one inch closer to the right and you would have spent the rest of your life paralyzed from the waist down. Sounds pretty lucky to me.” Becca nodded her head in agreement; she couldn’t argue with that logic. What was she doing when she was shot though? And why would anyone want to shoot her outside a game? Would she be ok in time for the SPP? It was coming up in a few weeks. Either way she’d be ok if it was only a partial dive, but how would this affect a full? Would they disqualify her for getting injured? Brian would be so disappointed in her- Becca’s eyes went wide as she began remembering the previous night. The drug, the break in, getting shot in the back and …Brian! Was he here too? She craned her neck this way and that to get a better look, but all she could see was sand and water. They were the only two people on what appeared to be an island.

“My brother, what happened to my brother Brian?” asked Becca. The woman seemed to be checking something, but after a moment she shook her head.

“Sorry, hun, it doesn’t say. Did he get hurt too?” Becca nodded before letting out a worried sigh. “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. There’s plenty of time to meet up later. Right now you just relax, until it’s time to go back to reality.”

A flashing red light in Becca’s vision stopped her from arguing further. She opened up her messenger and breathed a sigh of relief. It was from Brian. He must be recovering in virtual reality too, but the message made Becca scratch her head. It didn’t sound like someone who was recovering.

“What’s his name? I’ll look him up in the system and tell you what room he’s in.”

“Brian Strokes,” said Becca as she stared at his message again.

“I don’t see any record of anyone with that name having been checked in recently.” She said. How strange, Becca thought. She could have sworn he was hurt. Oh well, as long as he said he was ok that was good enough for her at the moment she thought as she picked up a handful of sand and watched it as it fell from underneath her closed fist.

“Are you my nurse?” Becca asked after a moment of silence.

“No, I’m not a nurse. I just watch the patients and keep them calm when they wake up here.”

“Oh, I see.” Said Becca.

“Not everyone is as familiar with virtual reality as you are. Some of our older patients complained after thinking they were dead- so here I am.”  
“Why a beach though?”

“We live in a cold climate, so we wanted our patients to feel like they were on a vacation, but apparently we went passed that and went for an after-life theme.” She said with a laugh as Becca smiled. “My name is Susan, and I will be your guide to the after-life. Please enjoy your stay.”

Becca scanned the horizon and watched the waves crash down onto the shoreline. She had never been to a real beach before, so this was kind of nice. She stood up, stretched and walked around knowing it might be a while before she was able to again if what she had been told was true. She walked up and down the shoreline for a bit before standing in the tide wishing she could feel the waves wash over the tops of her feet. She found a grouping of tide pools and amused herself with the creatures inside. For a hospital beach simulator it was pretty detailed. There were purple and red starfish along with a few sand dollars. She even found a few crabs scurrying in between the moss-covered rocks. After a while though she grew bored and began to head back towards Susan and sit with her in the sand.

“No one told me the after life would be this boring.” Said Becca.

“Would you rather be lying in a hospital bed in pain?”

“Shutting up.” Becca said planting her butt in the sand. “Is it usually just you in here all day?”

“There’s normally more than one person, but you’re the only one in recovery right now. Once you get out of here you can interact with other patients. Looks like they will be waking you up in about thirty or so more minutes.” Becca nodded as she stared out at the horizon for a bit longer. “You look worried about something.” Susan said sitting up on her beach towel. “Are you scared about waking up?”

“A little bit,” Becca answered honestly.

“We all have to face reality sooner or later. Just think less than ten years ago people had to stay in their hospital beds when they recovered. Now we can just send their consciousness somewhere else while their body does all the work for them. Cut’s down on the amount of painkillers we have to give it and lowers the chance of addiction.”

“Ugh, I couldn’t imagine.” Said Becca cringing. While this certainly was no paradise, it certainly beat the reality of post surgery recovery. The two talked for a little while longer until Susan informed her it was time to wake up.  
………………….  
Becca grimaced a bit when the helmet was lifted off of her and she was met with the sight of a different woman in scrubs. Her back painfully throbbed underneath all the bandages that wrapped around her and it was all she could do to keep from tearing up. She glanced around the room and found her mother asleep in one of the chairs.

“She hasn’t left for three days.” The nurse told her. Three days? That’s how long she was out for? She was only at the beach for a few hours, wasn’t she? Heather slowly began to stir after a few minutes and opened her eyes to find Becca looking at her. She sprang to her feet, wrapping her arms around her neck as Becca moaned in pain.

“Sorry, honey, I’m just so relieved you’re ok.” Heather said pulling back and wiping her watery eyes. Becca saw the dark circles and bags underneath her mother’s eye lids and her face seemed paler than usual. “I thought we were going to lose you too.”

“Lose me too?”

“Becca,” Heather said lightly cupping her daughters’ cheek in the palm of her hand. “Brian didn’t make it.”


	6. Chapter 6

Becca sat in stunned silence as she let her mom sit on the bed and wrap her arms around her while Becca rested her head on her mom’s shoulders. She stared blankly at the wall as tried to digest that latest bit of information, but no matter how hard she tried to comprehend the words and what they meant, it just wouldn’t sink in. 

It wasn’t true, she finally told herself. He had sent her a message in game. The more she thought about it the more she was convinced he was alive. His message hadn’t made sense before, but now it was clear as day. Becca, I’m ok; no matter what anyone tells you. For whatever reason he wanted everyone to believe he was dead. The only way to get to the bottom of this was to ask him.

“I have to go back in the Sphere.” She said amongst the noise of her mothers sniffling.

“Becca, no!” Heather said gripping her a little too tightly.

“I need to go, I need answers!” Becca said trying as carefully as she could peel herself away.

“Becca, running away isn’t going to solve anything. We need to talk about this.”

“No! He’s alive! I need to go talk to him!” Becca said looking up at the helmet and wondering how she could get it down. She refused to believe he was dead…he couldn’t be.

“He’s gone, Becca…” Heather whispered as her eyes changed from bright green to red as tears began pouring down her face only serving to cause Becca’s own to burn with hot moisture. “He was already dead when we found you.” She said breaking down in heavy sobs resulting in Becca doing the same. “What happened that night? Please tell me; I need to know.” Heather said once both had felt completely emotionally drained and exhausted.

This was the last thing Becca wanted to think about. She shook her head and tried to lie back down, but her mom insisted on information to the point of starting one of their many arguments.

“Some people broke in.” Becca said softly barely over a whisper.

“Why? Were they people Brian knew?”

“I don’t know.” Becca said numbly.

“Did they take anything?”

“I don’t know. They were after something Brian was working on.” She didn’t want to think about it, but images of that night kept flashing in her mind. If she had just listened to him he would still be alive. If she hadn’t charged at them and tried to fight one of them, the gun never would have gone off. That’s what the popping noise was. It was the shot that hit him. She killed Brian. It’s all your fault. Either she killed him or he was alive somewhere laying low for some reason.

“What were they after? What did they look like?” Heather continued.

“I don’t remember.” Becca said growing more agitated. She just wanted to be left alone.

“Well how many of them were there?”

“I don’t remember.” Becca said again in a monotone voice to keep herself from yelling. She didn’t want to talk about it, she just wanted to sleep and never wake up.

“Were they young or old?”

“I don’t remember.” Becca said lying back and closing her eyes.

“Becca, answer me seriously, damn it! Someone killed Brian and you’re the only witness. Show some sympathy!” Heather yelled.

“I said I don’t remember!” Becca yelled back.

“Are you saying you can’t even remember a single detail, or you just don’t want to?” Heather said rising from the bed. “I’ve been here for three days worried out of my mind without a single clue what happened.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Becca said.

“Tough, my son is dead so start spilling everything you know.”

“I don’t want to talk about it! I don’t want to think about it! I don’t want to remember! I just want to sleep!” Becca yelled.

“Please,” Heather said dropping her voice. “What did he die for?”

“Mrs. Strokes,” the nurse said pulling Heather aside. “She just survived a traumatizing situation. Give her some space and let her rest.”

“But the longer we wait-“

“The police will come and question her later today.“ The nurse said guiding her out of the room. “Why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee while I get her cleaned up?” Becca sighed in relief when she saw the nurse walk her mom out of her hospital room. She thought maybe she could get some sleep now, but she was wrong. All she could think about was how she was responsible for Brian’s death.

“Everything all right?” The nurse asked after knocking on the door once and letting herself in. Becca remained silent and stared ahead at the blank white wall in front of her. “You two always fight like that?” she asked pushing in a cart full of plastic tubs.

“Sometimes.” Becca mumbled.

“Death of a loved one affects everyone differently.” The nurse said removing one of the tubs and filling it with warm water from the sink.

“I guess,” Becca said closing her eyes, but she quickly opened them when she felt hands beginning to undress her. She groaned a little in pain as her arms were physically manipulated out of her hospital gown. When that was finally off she glanced down and frowned at her underwear. Some kind of absorbent butt sponge she thought as she poked at briefly. She supposed it was necessary if she had been unconscious for three days, but she was more than happy when the nurse removed it even if she was now completely naked save for some bandages.

In any normal circumstance she would have felt more than weirded out that a complete stranger was giving her a sponge bath, but she was too numb at the moment to care. “The wounds healing nicely.” The nurse commented as she gently removed the bandages in order to clean underneath them and put them to the side in Becca’s line of sight. Becca cringed as she saw all the blood. It was one thing to see pretend wounds in the virtual world, but it was completely different to see her real blood. She assumed the wound had split open at some point, but the nurse seemed completely un- phased by it. If this is what it looked like when it was good, she hated to know what it would have looked like when it was bad.

Becca had been meaning to ask if she could go back into the virtual world, but by the time she had been washed, changed and helped with other personal matters at the nurses insistence, she could barely keep her eyes open. She hadn’t even complained when she had been put into another butt sponge and forced to lie on something that resembled a puppy pad. The last thing she saw before drifting into the sweet land of unconsciousness was her mom coming back into the room while the nurse covered her with a blanket.  
……………………………………………………………………………

The next couple of days seemed to be a repeat of each other. Soon they just completely blurred one after another other until Becca couldn’t even remember how long she had been here. Was it a week or a month? Was it day or night? Someone came once a day and helped her walk around the room. It hurt like hell, but every step she took put her a step closer to her freedom.

The police had come and taken her statement, but with her mom hovering over her and hanging on every word, Becca couldn’t say the real reason Brian had died. The guilt of what she had done was suffocating her to the point that it hurt worse than the pain in her back. So she took the cowards way out and lied. She told them she had been shot first along with what little information she had. As the days progressed she feared they would catch the intruders and they would point her out as the real culprit. Would they believe her if they told her it was an accident? Would her mom and family ever be able to forgive her?

Becca spent as many hours as she could sitting on the beach and watching the waves. Sometimes Susan sat with her and sometimes she sat alone. She religiously checked her messenger every five to ten minutes hoping for some sign of life from him. She sent him dozens of messages a day only to be met with silence. She was starting to believe he really was gone and that she had just imagined the first message until one day there was a sign of hope.

I’m okay; just need to lay low. Don’t tell anyone about anything.

Her heart soared in her chest. He was ok! He was alive! Was he upset with her? She’d deal with that later though. She could now focus on getting better. The second half of the SPP exam was fast approaching.

Although she felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders; it was immediately replaced by another. Her burden of guilt may have been partially relieved, but the misery on her parents face remained. Brian had specifically told her not to tell anyone and she assumed that meant her parents as well, but it hurt not to share in her joy and relief. As a result Becca felt herself pulling away from her parents. She couldn’t bear to see their misery any longer so she spent more and more time in virtual reality once she had been released from the hospital. Even when her time limit had been reached for the day, Becca chose to sit in her room instead of joining her family in the living room. The small amounts of time she did see them was often spent fighting over the smallest of things.

“Why are you spending all of your time in your room?” “Don’t you roll your eyes at me!” “Why aren’t you helping around the house?” “Your rooms a mess” “Don’t sit like that; it’s bad for your back.” Almost no matter what was said led to some kind of argument.

Finally fed up with the way her family’s relationship was falling apart, Becca soon found herself sitting on the couch of psychiatrist’s office. She wasn’t happy that her mom had scheduled her an appointment behind her back. Why did she even need to see one anyway? It wasn’t even a shrink, but a full on you’re crazy please take these pills for all of us physiatrist. After being reassured for the hundredth time that everything said would be confidential, Becca finally broke down and revealed to him the real reason behind her stress. Everything was her fault. Not only was it her fault, but now her brother, whom everyone believed was dead, was in hiding for some reason.

“So you’re saying you believe your brother is alive?” The Dr. asked scribbling on a note pad as Becca sat awkwardly in a chair staring at his bookshelf.

“Yes, he has to be.” Becca said. “He sent me messages telling me he was ok, but that I couldn’t tell anyone. You won’t tell anyone, right?”

“No, I won’t tell.” Dr. Finnick said writing something more down. “What did you feel when you first found out about your brothers death?” Becca frowned, she had just told him her brother was alive, so why was he still talking like he was dead?

“Guilty.” Becca admitted. “It was my fault he got shot.” She said feeling the emotions beginning to rise in her throat. “He had told me to run, but instead I tried to fight them.”

“And what happened?”

“I tried to fight for the gun, but it went off mid struggle and hit him.”

“That must be hard to deal with. How did your parents react to that?” He asked without looking up.

“They don’t know. It was hard to deal with, but I know my brothers alive, so it’s not so bad now.” Becca said playing with her shirtsleeve.

“You know, one of the first stages of grief is denial.” He said casually. Becca’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t believe her?

“But…”

“They found his body, Becca. You have to come to terms with the fact that your brother is gone.” He said finally looking up.

“No, he’s alive!” She insisted. “He was smart, he could have just made a double or something in his lab. Or maybe it wasn’t even him! Maybe he just-“

“Listen to yourself, Becca. You’re grasping at straws here. I think you’re under a lot of stress as a result and have created these messages as way to cope with the guilt you’re feeling.” Dr. Finnick said looking up from his notepad. Becca remained silent gripping the armrest with her fists. He thought she was crazy! She could feel her temper beginning to boil with every casual glance he made up at her. Holding on to the belief that her brother was alive was all that was keeping her going. Why was he trying to take that away from her? Not to mention there was no way she had imagined those messages! “I’m going to write you a prescription for some anti-depressant medication to help take the edge off.”

He handed Becca a prescription and she took it and jammed it down in her pants pocket. She felt betrayed. She had finally told someone about all these feelings she had been harboring only to be told she was crazy.

“I’d like to see you back next week.” He said. No way, thought Becca as she got up to leave.


	7. Chapter 7

The day of the next testing portion couldn’t have come soon enough for Becca, but this morning was different compared to her last test. There was no round of “good luck,” and “you got this”. Instead, Becca waited alone in her room where she had spent mostly every day so far, propped up against a few pillows on her bed. She waited impatiently for the minutes to pass while trying to resist the urge to log in early. She didn’t want to run out of time, but surely the test wouldn’t be longer than a few hours. Just in case though she wouldn’t take any chances.

She groaned in pain while she stood up and slowly walked to the bathroom for what felt like the tenth time that morning just to have something to do. She carefully unbuttoned her blouse and slowly twisted her neck so she could see the scar on her back in the mirror. It was amazing how something so small could cause her so much pain. She lightly traced her finger over the incision wincing slightly as she did so. There was still a good few inches around the wound that was sensitive to the touch. After putting her shirt back on Becca dug in her medicine cabinet for a pain pill, before popping it back and chasing it down with a handful of water from the sink. After making sure the door was closed, she took one of the pills the psychiatrist prescribed out from the bottle and did what she always did with it- she flushed it down the toilet. She refused to take anything from someone who thought she was crazy. Who knew what that pill was going to do to her? After another fight with her mother about them, Becca had caught her dumping the pills out to count them to make sure she was taking them so just leaving the bottle in her medicine cabinet was out of the question. She was so sick of being asked every morning, “Did you take your medicine?” during breakfast that she simply stopped coming down in the morning. Mostly because she was a terrible liar. The last thing she wanted was her mom to know she wasn’t taking them, yet there were still pills disappearing.

Finally after pacing her room, adjusting and re-adjusting her pillows, and planning what weapons to equip on her avatar; it was time. Helmet in hand, she lowered the keyboard attached to the side and typed in the IP address of where she wanted to go. She hoped it would have something to do with combat this time, after sitting on the beach for a week she was itching for a fight.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Becca wobbled a bit on her feet when she arrived at her destination still a little woozy from the trip, but quickly found her footing as she looked around and found herself inside a waiting room. She blinked in surprise as she headed towards the closest door and read the nameplate. You’ve got to be kidding she thought. She was at another psychiatrist’s office.

“Hi, are you checking in?” Someone behind the counter asked.

“I’m not sure I’m at the right place.” Becca said. She must have goofed and miss-typed the address.

“Do you have an appointment with Dr. Bastov?”

“Not that I know of, I was trying to get to the SPP testing site.” Becca said awkwardly. She hoped this goof wouldn’t make her late.

“You’ve come to the right place.” The lady behind the front desk said. “Can I get your name, please?” Becca frowned. Why was she here? Was it a trick?

“Which name?” Becca asked unsure of whether to give her real name or her avatars. Mostly everything in the Sphere operated under her avatars, but she wasn’t sure in the case of something official like this.

“Avatar is fine. We’ll scan your chip to get your official records.” Becca gulped. They were getting her medical records? That would mean they’d know about her getting injured.

“Sasha Brindey,” Becca said while hesitantly sticking her forearm out so her chip could be scanned. She heard a quiet beep when the secretary slid her palm over before being directed to have a seat. After a few minutes she tapped her foot impatiently as she wondered what this was all about.

“No need to be nervous; it’s just a standard mental health evaluation. He’ll just ask you a few questions off a list and make sure you’re not crazy.” The girl said with a wink. Becca gulped. If that was supposed to make her feel better, it didn’t work. “You can come on back now.” She said now appearing through an open door leading down a hallway.

Becca followed her until she was told to wait in another room with comfy looking armchairs. She figured they were more for looks than anything since no one would be able to feel a difference compared to if they were sitting on a wooden bench. The office looked suspiciously like Dr. Finnick’s office. So much so she had expected the grey haired man with the double chin to come waltzing in himself. Instead she was a little surprised when a beautiful bronze skinned woman with brown hair knocked on the door before coming in, but then again this was the Sphere, everyone looked like supermodels.

“Hello, you must be Sasha.” Dr. Bastov said shaking Becca’s hand before taking a seat on the opposite side of the desk. “So you are applying for the Sphere Protection Program, is that right?” Becca nodded her head as the Dr. read some kind of text in her field of vision. “What we’re going to do is ask you a few questions, tell you a little bit about the conditions of the program and see whether or not you’re a good fit.” She said. Becca nodded again while sitting up a little bit straighter. “Alright, so let’s get started. First I want to go over your medical history.”

“O-ok.” Becca said nervously.

“Since this job is in virtual reality, we don’t require much from the user. All we really want is for applicants to fall into a certain age range and that their health is ok. Disabilities are fine; we’ve had many members of the SPP wheelchair bound, blind etcetera. We just look for major illnesses like heart function and things like that. We obviously can’t accept anyone who’s at risk of passing away anytime soon.” She explained as Becca breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t sound like her back injury would cause any kind of problem. “Our biggest concern of course is mental health since the mind is what’s transferred from the user to the avatar.” Becca nodded to show her understanding.

“So do injuries transfer over in full dives?” Becca asked. “Say someone was disabled, would their avatar also be disabled in the Sphere?”

“Only if we need them to be.” Dr. Bastov answered causing Becca to tilt her head in confusion. “Say you were injured and needed to do physical therapy in a full dive because your physical body couldn’t; we could alter the avatar’s data in the Sphere to make the injury less severe. If we took it away completely the brain wouldn’t believe you were working it and the users body wouldn’t heal, but by keeping it difficult but no more than the user could handle, the brain is convinced you are strenuously working the effected part of the body. Of course in the SPP, we would take the disability away completely, because if we didn’t then yes, it would transfer over.” Dr. Bastov explained as Becca’s eyes went wide. “So essentially, as long as the person is in no danger of dying and is mentally sound, we can proceed.”

“Wow,” Was all Becca could think of to say. No wonder the drug that allows people to stay in the Sphere long term was so valuable. You could literally have a life disability free there as long as someone could alter their avatar on the other side.

“Pretty amazing, right?”

“Yeah, seriously.” Becca said. “What if it was in the brain though? Like if it affected someone’s mental health?”

“That, unfortunately, we can’t fix since the consciousness is linked between the avatar and user. We can only trick the brain; we can’t fix the brain itself. Not yet, anyway.”

“Oh, I see.” Becca said.

“So what I’m going to do is ask you a series of questions and I want you to answer them as best as you can on a scale of one to ten.” Dr. Bostov explained. Becca found the questions to be fairly simple and easy to answer. On a scale of one to ten how quick are you to anger? How positive are you? Are you confrontational or passive? Becca thought the questions were more to determine who would be a suitable partner versus an actual mental health exam. After twenty more minutes, the Dr. finally stopped as she noted the last of Becca’s answers down.

“So there’s just a few more things I want to ask you about in your file. You had a bit of a scare when you were a kid and needed some counseling it says. How did this effect you growing up?”

“Heh, yeah. It’s kind of what made me want to be in the SPP as soon as I heard about it. It took me years to go back into virtual reality, but once I finally did I could never look back.” Becca explained.

“In your own words tell me what happened.”

“Well, It was my first time going into the Sphere; I think I must have been about five. My brother took me to a local Sphere center back before the home consoles came out. I picked a kids game and went in by myself, but someone tampered with the game and made all the characters start killing each other.”

“And you’re ok now?”

“Not a big fan of ponies or horses now, but yeah, I turned out ok.” Becca said laughing nervously.

“And it says here you recently lost a family member.” She said as Becca’s face fell. Ok this was it, she thought. Hide the crazy. Don’t tell her anything you told him.

“Yeah.”

“How are you dealing with it? Are you struggling with any kind of depression or suicidal thoughts?”

“I guess I’m a little down.” Becca said. She couldn’t totally say she was fine with it. That would either trigger her as a psychotic or a liar.

“That’s to be expected; I’m sorry for your loss. In your opinion do you think it would cause any problems in the future if you were to be accepted?”

“No, if anything I could use the distraction. Keep myself busy, you know?”

“Alright, Sasha, you pass. From here you’ll go straight through that door, take a left and you’ll be meeting with the other candidates for the final exam.” Dr. Bastav explained. Becca smiled widely as she heard the news she made it to the next round, until she realized the next round was right this minute. And didn’t she just say final?  
…………………………………..

Becca hadn’t expected to find a room quite this big in a place that seemed like it was just Drs. offices. It had to be five or six times bigger than the place she was in just a minute ago. A flash of green caught Becca’s attention as she smiled glad to see a familiar face in the crowd of people that had gathered.

“Hey, you made it.” The green haired girl from before said spinning something glowing on a string in each hand to a rhythm only she could hear. “Sasha, right?”

“Yeah, and you’re, Crystal.” Becca said watching her with mild curiosity. “What are you doing?” She asked after a minute once the girl stopped spinning the primitive looking glow sticks.

“Glow stick dancing. Apparently my great, great, great, grandparents did it. I think it was some kind of ancient ritual to ward off spirits or something.” Crystal said.  
“Really? huh? Interesting.” Becca said only to see the older girl smirk.

“You’re so gullible.” Crystal said. “I don’t know why they did it, but its kind of fun. Keeps me calm when I’m nervous. Want to try?”

“Uh, what do I do?” Becca asked doubtfully holding the two green sticks in her hands.

“You just dance with them and spin them around.” Crystal explained as Becca moved around and spun the strings.

“This is kind of fun.” Becca said swinging around and moving her legs and hips only to stop and see Crystal cringing.

“I’m going to have to take these back now and ask that you never to do that again.” Crystal said with a grimace. “You could be a toothpaste commercial; your slogan would be noticeably white.”

“Umm.” Becca said looking at Crystal’s pale skin.

“I’m not that white.” She explained as Becca shrugged. “So are you ready for the next test?”

“What is it?”

“The fear simulator.” Crystal said, “You go in pairs and it scans your brain for your deepest fear and projects it inside a room and everyone outside can see what you’re doing. If you chicken out everyone will know. It’s supposed to test how brave you are when you’re scared.”

Becca made a small squeaking noise in terror. “Please tell me you’re joking.” She pleaded. She couldn’t decide what was worse: being forced to face her fears or knowing everyone would know what she was afraid of.

“Nope, not this time.” Crystal said. “I’m probably going to get spiders. I really hate spiders. What about you? Sasha? Uhh, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Everyone will see my deepest fear…” Sasha said eyes wide. “There’s no way they’ll let me in if they know what I’m afraid of.”

“What? It can’t be that bad. Is it clowns? Oh, god, its clowns isn’t it. Those freak me out. It better not be clowns.” Crystal said, but Becca only shook her head and whispered something barely audible. “I didn’t catch that what?”

“It’s, umm, I’m scared of…”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I’m scared of My Little Pony!” Becca blurted out.


	8. Chapter 8

Crystal stood transfixed on Becca who stood awkwardly waiting for a response before the green haired girl broke out in a wide grin. “You had me going there for a second. But, seriously, what are you afraid of?” She asked but frowned when Becca looked up at her with a hurt expression. “Wait, you’re serious? My Little Pony… as in the kids show?” Becca slowly nodded her head and looked down at the grey carpeting. “Umm…why?” Crystal asked, but after a second threw in a “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“My first dive into virtual reality was a My Little Pony game when I was five. Someone working there manipulated the game so that the characters would start a full on war if someone said they wanted to see the Pegasus’s.” Becca said. “That’s what my brother told me when they got me out.”

“What happened? Like in the game, what freaked you out so bad? Ponies aren’t exactly…scary.” Crystal said.

“They were killing each other with their horns and stuff.” Becca said with a shudder. “I love violent games, with guns and weapons. Bring on the gore! But…every time I think of that scene of the princess getting stabbed through the heart with a pitchfork in front of me. It just freaks me out and gives me the chills.” She explained.

“So what happened after that? Like did they ever catch who did it?”

“My brother said he punched the guy in the face and smashed his head on a console.” Becca said with a weak smile before her eyes began to mist over. “After that happened, we were really close. He was a bit too over protective of me though.” She said with a weak laugh.

“Was?”

“He, umm…” Becca stuttered trying to think of the right words to say. “He moved away recently. I just really miss him, sorry.”

“Then why not meet in the Sphere? He might not physically be there, but you can always see him here, right?” Crystal asked as Becca’s eyes went wide. She was right; she could meet Brian in the Sphere! She hadn’t even thought of that! Becca quickly opened her messenger and sent Brian a message asking to meet. Hopefully he’d respond. In the meantime though she’d have to figure out a way to sort out her current predicament. “So, uh, if we’re going to partner up again, please tell me you’re packing?”

“A few things here and there.” Becca said with a hint of a smile. It was nothing like last time, but she did have a few knives, a pistol and her shotgun strung around her shoulder with a strap.

“Anything that can kill a few spiders?” Crystal asked as Becca opened up her coat to show her an assortment of tools that could get the job done. “At least one of us is prepared.” She said. “I only brought my bow and arrow, great for large targets, but small ones…” She said with a grimace.

“You’re an archer?” Becca asked surprised. “I took you as more of a chemist.”

“Nah, poisons aren’t really my thing. I can make a rough health potion though, but that’s about it. Pretty basic.” Crystal said. “Now that I think about it, I wish I would have experimented with it more…. I could just gas the little bastards.”

“Maybe they will be bigger in the fear simulator,” Becca suggested, but immediately took it back when she was met with a dark stare from Crystal.

“Do not speak of such things.” Crystal said darkly. “They’re creepy enough being small.”

“But if they were bigger than you’d have a target to hit.” Becca said. “Wouldn’t it feel better knowing you could plunge an arrow into the heart of the thing you fear most?”

“I suppose.” Crystal said as she quieted down and seemed lost in thought for a moment. “No, no big spiders! Now I can’t stop thinking about big spiders! If there are big spiders in there now because you suggested it than you no longer have to fear ponies. It’s me you should be afraid of.” She threatened. Becca swallowed nervously and sat down in an uncomfortable looking chair glad for once that she couldn’t feel anything. “What’s your specialty?” Crystal asked after a moment of silence and people watching.

“Small weapons and hand to hand combat mostly. I do like to keep a variety of things stocked just in case, like my favorite shot gun.” Becca said sliding it off her shoulders and showing it off. “We’ve killed many zombies together.”

“Can I please have everyone’s attention?” A tall buff looking man with a shaved head yelled out into the crowd. “Now that everyone is gathered we’re about to start.” People all of all sizes, shapes, and genders appeared. Apparently species as well once Becca noticed the lady with long brown hair in front of her had pointed elf ears. She had never thought of changing her personal appearance like that before. For whatever reason she had always just stuck with what she had imagined when she was little. Sure it was plain and ordinary, but it had its advantages in game. People tended to not take her seriously and when they least expected it… She’d take them down before they even knew what hit them. “For anyone who arrived after my earlier explanation, I’ll go over it one more time. This will be the last and finale test. We will hook you up to a few sensors that will monitor your heart rate and blood pressure. For those of you thinking, ‘but I don’t have a heart or blood in game!’ these sensors monitor your real life stats. We don’t want anyone dying of a heart attack. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. If your blood pressure falls into any dangerous category you will immediately be woken up and you will be disqualified. Any questions?”

Becca glanced around the room as many people nervously fidgeted in place. How exactly would this work? Virtual reality inside virtual reality? The man scanned the room waiting for someone to speak up, but everyone remained quiet so he continued on with his explanation.

“Each of you will step in front of this lens one at a time so the computer can scan you.” He said motioning his hand towards a plain looking wall with a single partition to stand in front of. “By doing so it will examine your mind and put together a reality to project behind this door. Becca’s eyes went wide. She thought those were just a rumor. To actually project a personal reality for people who enter, too bad it was set to scare them to death. “Each of your realities will have a goal you must accomplish, usually resulting in some kind of flag. Bring the flag back in order to pass. You will each have 15 minutes to accomplish this. If it’s too much for you, you can come back by opening the door, but just know leaving without the flag will result in disqualification. Anyone want to go first?” Everyone remained where they stood staring back at him wide eyed. “No one ever volunteers.” He mumbled. “Steven Halberg. Go scan yourself.” He ordered.

A twenty something year old guy stepped forward wearing jeans and a t-shirt gripping his crossbow nervously. Taking a deep breath he walked in front of the partition as a white light shined into his eyes before stopping.

“Go on.” The instructor said motioning towards the door.

“You said earlier we get a partner.” Steven said, but the instructor shook his head.

“Sorry about that, just got a message from the higher ups, apparently that’s what the sensors are for. The buddy system was to drag out a fainted person, but now they’ll automatically be ejected from the Sphere. Sorry, you’re on your own.”

“We still get to watch though, right?” Someone spoke up from the crowd. Suddenly the plain wall from earlier began to rise up revealing a large screen. Becca at first thought it was off, but a timer in the upper right hand side showed 15:00. It was merely nothing but blackness on the other side of the door.

“It’s my favorite part.” The instructor said. “There’s sensors inside the room that monitor whoevers in there; that’s why it’s only one at a time now. The clock will start as soon as soon as you enter. Go on.” He said once he put what looked like a little silver bracelet on Steven’s wrist.

After taking a slow deep breath, Steven gripped his crossbow as tightly as he could with one hand and slowly opened the door to reveal the blackness inside before stepping in as the door shut behind him. Everyone turned their attention to the screen, as Steven stood rooted to spot before taking a few tentative steps forward in what looked to be an empty department store. Clothes hung on racks and mannequins posed wearing the latest fashion. How strange, Becca thought. She had never seen a real life mannequin before. Everything in her life had been digital, so to see a plastic imitation of a person standing in place staring blankly at the wall left an eerie image on the screen. Becca wondered where he had seen them from, a movie perhaps?

Steven walked slowly around the ill lighted room that left an even creepier feeling to the abandoned store. Trash littered the broken tiled floor and ceiling fixtures were hanging precariously overhead by rotting beams and wires. A sudden movement to his right caused him to freeze in place. Becca watched from the safety of behind the screen and as the numbers correlating with his heart rate begin to steadily rise. Everyone stared unmoving as they watched. The room had fallen so silent you could hear a pin drop.

It seemed like a full minute before Steven found the courage to keep walking as he checked and double-checked over his shoulder while continuing his trek through the store. Becca wasn’t quite sure what it was exactly that Steven was afraid of. She kind of wondered if he had been left alone after hours in a store at some point when he was a kid, but she wasn’t 100 percent sure. She continued to watch him walk amongst the broken racks and debris and wondered what exactly was his mission. It was when he had gotten to some kind of black staircase with strange looking metal rails that she noticed a flag flying at the top. That was it, Becca thought? A stroll through a primitive, albeit strangely creepy, store?

Steven tentatively reached for the flag when he had gotten to the top of the strange staircase that things changed on the screen. As soon as he touched the flag, all at once the twenty something mannequins turned their heads towards him fast as lightening. He stood frozen to the spot with fear noticing that they were all now staring at him with their lifeless faces. He audibly gulped before putting the pendent in his pocket and slowly made his way down the staircase while tightly gripping his crossbow. Becca could tell his arms were shaking the way his weapon bounced in his hands. The closer he got to the bottom of the stairs the more the mannequins facial features changed. The once plain and uninterested faces that had been staring off into the void were now grinning wickedly and watching every step Steven took. He paused before sucking in a mouthful of air and took the last step onto the first floor.

Becca’s jaw nearly dropped as she watched what happened next on the screen. It was when he took that finale step that the statues charged at him leaving behind their pedestals. In a wave of panic Steven turned tale and dashed back up the escalator away from the exit as the mannequins followed behind streaming into the narrow broken down escalator as they each tried to climb over each other to get to him. He nervously looked back as dozens of white plastic arms reached for him. He ran blind until he was forced to stop at a crossroad pausing only for a second before heading towards his right; the clanking of plastic legs on tile right on his tail.

Becca audibly gasped as he was forced to stop running once he came to a dead end in a dressing room. She cringed when he decided to lock himself in a stall only to have them crawling under and over the door as he screamed before they climbed on top of him until all you could see was a pile of plastic limbs and muffled shouts. A beeping of a timer was suddenly heard as Becca glanced up to see he had run out of time. Suddenly the mannequins vanished and all that was left on the screen was Steven curled up in a ball in the darkness sobbing. The instructor had to poke his head in the door and tell him it was over.

Everyone in the room stood quietly in shock holding their breath as Steven walked out with his head hung low before he exited the door and disappeared knowing he had failed. Becca exhaled once the door closed behind him. She hadn’t realized she had been shaking until she looked down at her hands. What was hers going to be like? That wasn’t even her fear, but it had freaked her out this much just watching from the safety of behind the screen. Just what had Becca signed herself up for?


	9. Chapter 9

The room remained still and silent as everyone glanced nervously about. The room beyond that door was capable of projecting horrors beyond any of their imaginations. Becca felt thoroughly creped out and she hadn’t even gone in yet. A quick glance to her left revealed Crystal, normally cool and composed, seemed to be thinking the same thing. Her lips were pursed tightly together in a scowl as she bit at her bottom lip anxiously. Would they all be like that? Becca couldn’t help but wonder what had made Steven so afraid of mannequins, even though she had to admit they were creepy as hell now.

“CreamCheese…Vador?” The instructor called out looking at his list puzzled before glancing up and asking, “why?” at the next guy who approached. It was pretty much un spoken rule that you don’t name your avatars moronic things due to the professional nature the Sphere had outside of gaming. Every once in a while though Becca would still come across people like CreamCheeseVador who thought the Internet was still a large cesspool of the uneducated and uncouth as it was hundreds of years ago. It was still somewhat acceptable in game, but why didn’t he change it before coming here? “Yeah, I’m just gonna call you Greg.” The instructor said as the now dubbed Greg stood in front of the scanner before opening the door and stepping inside. Everyone quickly turned their attention to the screen as the once inky blackness illuminated a bright white light to reveal…absolutely nothing. It was just a white plane with nothing else. Becca couldn’t imagine what would make this scary whatsoever especially compared to what the person before him went through. Greg looked up as text began to form mid air. Remain for fourteen minutes to receive flag.

“I don’t get it,” Becca whispered to her friend. “What’s so hard about this?”

“I think he’s afraid of complete isolation. Look, you can’t even see the door anymore.” She glanced up to confirm that the door he had come from had seemed to vanish leaving him alone in the white plane with no way out. Greg seemed to have noticed the missing door as well as he stared nervously at the spot where it had once been. Becca thought he’d be able to do it no problem; all he had to do was sit there after all, but as the minutes slowly ticked by Greg began fidgeting more and more. His movement began showing a more panicked feel to them as he paced back and forth. At the seven-minute mark, he shouted that he gave up and the door re-appeared. Greg quickly went through without looking back and made a beeline towards the lobby without making eye contact with anyone.

 

It went on like this for quite some time each caving before their quest was complete. Becca felt a little more at ease when she realized no one was laughing at anyone’s fears as strange as they might seem as each persons scenario differed from the next. One woman was tasked with trekking through a cave full of snakes, (she didn’t even try) while another had to endure standing in a small room where the walls were slowly moving closer and closer. Becca thought he might actually make it, but shouted, “I give up!” when they were about a foot from his face.

She was starting to notice a pattern. It seemed when faced with the thing they fear most, people forgot that nothing could hurt them. The woman who refused to walk through a pit of rattlesnakes could have strolled through, picked up the flag and been on her merry way without feeling a thing. Steve could have lured the mannequins chasing him to the 2nd floor and jumped off the balcony without a scratch. He could have also just pushed right through them instead of allowing himself to be trapped in a dressing room.

It was then Becca fully understood the purpose of this test. It wasn’t meant to scare and humiliate for the instructors amusement, although he did seem to be enjoying himself immensely. The true purpose was to be able to make logical and rational decisions even under the most stressful circumstances. All Becca had to do was think her way out. Every obstacle had an obvious solution if the person could just keep calm.

Becca realized all of this during Anthony-Arnolds test. She never would have guessed he had been afraid of heights, but then again she seemed to realize she was terrible at guessing things about other people. His mission was to cross a very very narrow path in what appeared to be a natural made bridge in a cave. Becca didn’t believe he’d be able to do it once he was halfway across and had made the fatal error of looking down. He stood frozen on the bridge staring at the many sharp looking stalagmites that formed sharp looking spikes on the caves floor. Finally after a minute or so he was able to snap himself out of the trance and very carefully take small deliberate steps and inch towards his goal. He hesitantly reached towards the flag, but after what had happened with Steven everyone was expecting some kind earthquake or cave in. He looked around nervously waiting for some kind of sign something terrible would happen, but nothing did. Maybe he had already made it past the hard part.

It was when Arnold -Anthony turned to leave is when everyone saw what had changed. The bridge was gone. There was nothing there but two edges of a cliff and a large gap about a hundred yards wide. He stood there flabbergasted and unmoving. What could he do? He peeked his head over the edge of the cliff to see the many spikes that were waiting to castrate him should he fall. How was he supposed to get across. He wasn’t like he could just run across and… Becca’s mouth fell open…he wasn’t actually going to do it was he? Oh god, he was.

 

Arnold- Anthony backed up as far as he could before taking off in a mad sprint before leaping into the air. What was wrong with him? He was going to die! He was going to…land safely in the air? What in the world… He landed on what appeared to be an invisible floor before casually walking towards the exit flag in hand as if he had known all along. There wasn’t a drop… it was all an illusion… The room was deathly silent until he appeared in the doorway before everyone burst into mad applause and shouts as soon as he came through. Someone had finally done it! He was the first of ten people to actually pass!

“Alright, alright calm down.” The instructor said after many rounds of “congratulations” and “good jobs” as Arnold- Anthony held the pendent over his head in victory to the crowd. “Let’s see, whose next….umm umm…let’s go with… Sasha!”  
……………………………  
At first Becca didn’t even realize he had called her name. She stood in place looking through the crowd until Crystal pushed her forward towards the scanner.

“Don’t chicken out before you even get in there.” She joked as Becca gulped and slowly commanded her feet forward even though they wanted to run towards the lobby. She stood in front of the partition as a bright white light shined into her eyes as she tried her best to resist the urge to cover them. After the silver-blinking bracelet was slipped onto her wrist her heart rate appeared up on the large screen.

“If I don’t make it out alive tell my family I love them.” She said to Crystal as a few people let out a small chuckle. She turned her attention towards the door that held her fate. This was it. This was the only thing standing in her way of joining the SPP. Fifteen minutes; she could do this, she thought slowly reaching towards the door handle and stepping inside.

………………………………………………………………………………

Everyone watched the screen slightly confused to see the bright and cheery town of Ponyville as Crystal just shook her head in disbelief. Part of her still thought Sasha had just been joking, but this proved that she wasn’t.

The instructor grumbled before heading over to the console. “Damn thing.” He muttered as someone asked what was wrong. “For whatever reason it switched from deepest fear to deepest desire.” He said when he saw the brightly colored Pegasus flying into view. “Didn’t think she was into that kind of thing, but whatever.”

“Sir, look!” Someone shouted. “I don’t think the machine broke.” He peeked his head up and glanced at the screen unsure of what he was looking at until his annoyed frown turned into a smirk. Becca’s heart rate was going through the roof, 150 beats per minute, and now 160, 165!

“Can’t say I was expecting that.” He said watching amused with his arms crossed.

……………………………………………………………………….

Becca stood rooted to the spot was she gazed at the town that hosted her childhood trauma. It had probably had changed over the years, but this was how her brain had remembered it and so it was projected in front of her. She glanced up at the timer realizing she had been standing in place for over a full minute just wasting time.

“Move!” She yelled at her legs before slowly taking a step towards her destination. “It’s just a image; it can’t hurt me. This isn’t real.” She chanted as she grimaced making contact with the first resident.

“Hi there!” The princess shouted behind her as Becca jumped a foot in the air. She tried her hardest to resist the urge to run, but her feet had other plans. She took off like a bat out of hell running as fast as she could through the town. “No no no! Stop!” She yelled at herself. “You have to stop and think!” Finally her feet co-operated with her. Find the flag; you need to find the flag!

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Twilight said landing in front of her as she tucked her large purple wings to the side. “My name is Princess Twilight and-“

“I know who you are! Stay back!” Becca shouted backing up as the princess frowned in confusion.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You look lost; is there something you’re looking for?” the purple alicorn asked. Maybe she knows, Becca thought for a moment. It wouldn’t hurt.

“I’m looking for a small, blue flag. It should be somewhere in this town.” Becca said keeping her distance.

“A small blue flag?” Twilight mumbled to herself. “Does it say SPP on it?”

“Yes! That’s it! Do you know where it is?” Becca asked eagerly, but her heart dropped when she heard the answer.

“Yeah, It’s flying on the top of the Apple Family barn!”

The Apple Family. Becca gritted her teeth. They were the cause of so many childhood nightmares and what she needed to get was there. Of course it was, Apple Jack and Big Mac were the things she was terrified of, so where else would the flag be?

“I can take you there if you want to see it.” Twilight offered as Becca checked her remaining time. Becca agreed with a sigh and so she half-ran and half walked as the princess trotted along by her side. Should she tell her she was going to die? Becca felt a small pang of guilt knowing she was ultimately leading the princess to her death, but Becca reminded herself that it wasn’t real and soon they arrived at their destination as Becca spotted her prize flying high above the barn just as the princess had described. “Well here we are.” Twilight said cheerfully as Becca stopped in her tracks.

There they all were waiting for her: Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Big Mac and worst of all…Apple Jack. Their eyes looked just as Becca had remembered from her childhood; Evil and red and they all glared daggers into the two of them making their murderous intentions known. Becca couldn’t allow herself to get caught up in their fight and just as before Big Mac rammed his pitchfork into the princess’s chest as blood began to spray every which way. Becca ran away as if on auto-pilot and took cover behind a nearby building. She could hear the explosions as an all out war began taking place due to the princess’s assassination. Maybe I should have come alone; it would have prevented all this extra commotion I don’t need.

Becca stood in the shadows of the building staring longingly at her flag. How was she supposed to scale a barn without getting caught? It’s not as if she could fly… A sudden thought popped into her head, no more of a memory. What had started all of this in the very beginning when she was little was saying she wanted to ride the flying ponies… She could ride one of the Pegasus up to the barn and snatch the flag. Could she be brave enough to pull it off? The only pony she had spoken with so far that had wings had just been pulverized by a gardening tool. She looked up at the figures gliding in the sky. Who would let her ride them? She couldn’t even remember their names… There was the really shy one with the animals…but she was probably more scared of Becca than Becca was of her. She was probably cowering somewhere so that was out. What was the other one? Becca scanned the air above her as a rainbow streaked across the sky. That one! Rainbow…Dart? No, Dash.

“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!” Becca shouted as she saw the multi-colored pegisi loop in the air. “Rainbow Dash!” She shouted again.

“I ain’t Beetlejuice.” The rainbow colored pony said landing. “Who are you? I’m a little busy, as you can see this place has gone to hell! We’re fighting the earth ponies, and the unicorn are fighting us and-“

“I need a favor!” Becca shouted. “I need a ride up to the top of the barn.” She pointed to the flag flying at the top.

“What’s in it for me?” Rainbow Dash said eying Becca. “What are you anyway?”

“I can help you fight afterwards.” Becca lied.

“How can you help?” Rainbow Dash said disbelieving.

“With this.” Becca said showing her the shotgun.

“How’s a funny looking stick going to hel-“ Rainbow Dash started to say, but immediately shut up when Becca pulled the trigger and blew a hole in the building she was standing by.

“Hop on!” She said as Becca paused for a moment before climbing onto her back and gripping her colorful mane in her hands. After a running start, Rainbow Dash soared high into the sky before slowly gliding past the flag as Becca ripped it off the stand. She held it in her hands with glee for a moment before she realized she was being flown towards the battle scene and away from the door.

“Where are we going?” Becca shouted. “Put me down!”

“Not until you use your weird stick to blow a hole in Apple Jacks head!” Becca looked at the clock. She had seven minutes left and was being asked to assassinate to thing that had caused her so much torment as a child. She smiled widely and leaned forward after shoving the flag in her pocket. “There! Get them!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she circled above the running Apple family. Becca aimed her gun and fired, but missed and quickly reloaded she fired again as Apple Bloom fell to the ground. Another two shots and Granny Smith was face first in the ground eating dirt. It took another four to take down Big Mac and then all that was left was Apple Jack, the only problem was she was out of shotgun shells and she doubted her pistol would work. She didn’t come prepared like she had last time. You can’t get hurt.

“Take me down lower! I’ll jump on her back and slash her throat with my twin blades!” Becca shouted pulling them out of their holsters on her thighs.

“I like your style!” Rainbow Dash shouted and took a nosedive down towards the sprinting pony that ran over the landscape. Becca jumped after trying her best to time it and landed on Apple Jacks back. The orange pony jumped and bucked as hard as she could sending Becca flying, but not before Becca had managed to injure the ponies leg so that it limped.

“You know what they say about horses when they have a broken leg.” Becca said aiming her pistol at the struggling animal. “You were always my least favoritebackground pony.” She said before putting the creature out of its misery with a shot to the head.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………

When Becca stepped back through the door flag in hand with thirty seconds remaining she had expected to be met with rounds of applause like Arnold-Anthony had. Instead she was met with an eerie silence as everyone stared at her with mouths agape and one guy to her right was even doing a Hail Mary! Becca looked at the crowd in awkward silence before the instructor finally broke the ice.

“What the hell was that?” He said staring at her. “All you had to do was get the flag and bring it back; you didn’t have to kill them all! It was just a kids show!” He said as Becca hung her head in shame. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, you pass.” He said after a sigh. Finally the room erupted in cheers as Becca smiled wide and threw her fists in the air. She even ignored his comment that sounded an awful lot like, “you need help.”

“What does this mean?” Becca asked finally coming down from her high.

“It means welcome to the SPP.”


	10. ch 10

Becca felt so giddy she was hardly paying attention to anyone else’s turn. Becca couldn’t believe it; after so many years of daydreaming about this, she was in. She was so happy she just wanted to dance and twirl. Mr. Clean had told her to wait until everyone was done and that they’d go over the next steps together with the others that had passed. When the number of people quickly began to dwindle, Becca realized only three other people besides herself had made it through. To be honest, she hadn’t really been paying attention ever since she had come out victorious, choosing instead to get lost in her own little world.

How would her parents react? Could they be able to stop fighting for one night in order to celebrate? They had always cheered her on and celebrated every little victory she had made towards her goal, or at least they used to. Surely they could put aside their grief for one night.

She tried to think of whom else she could tell. Brian immediately came to mind and although he never answered her daily messages, she decided to send him the details anyway. If this didn’t coax him to talk; she didn’t know what would.

“Alright, you there, you’re the last one up.” Mr. Clean said pointing to Crystal as she slowly made her way over to the scanner. Becca stopped her daydreaming to flash her the thumbs up. If anyone else made it, she hoped Crystal would.

“I swear if there’s giant spiders in there because of you…” Crystal threatened Becca, who flashed her an apologetic look in return. The five people left in the room turned their attention to the screen. Becca gulped and began wondering if she should plan her funeral when the image appeared and the first thing she saw was cobwebs. Not just any cobwebs, but the biggest cobwebs Becca had ever seen. What was worse was that their earlier conversation seemed to have blended into the scene before them.

Crystal stood outside what appeared to be an abandoned fairground gripping her bow. Everything was old and rusted and a breeze unfelt by her seemed to have swept down causing all the ancient rides to creak and groan. A merry-go-round- inched along as if being ridden by an unseen passenger as it played the most hair raising and eeriest music any of them had ever heard. If it weren’t for the cobwebs that were several stories high dangling from the Ferris wheel, Becca would be sure this itself would have qualified as someone’s deepest fear.

The small group continued watching as Becca wondered where the flag would be. Was it on top of the Ferris Wheel? Or in a fun house? She didn’t even notice she had begun biting her nails in anticipation as Crystal continued her journey. It was when Crystal stopped walking and stared at what appeared to be a haunted mansion of some kind that Becca knew exactly where the flag would be. The building itself was covered in giant spider webs.

“You are so dead.” Crystal mumbled as she took a arrow from her quiver to knock down the webs while dancing in a panic when one of them touched her.

The dirty wooden beams used for floor tiles creaked with every step making Crystal wonder if her heavy combat boots would punch a hole in one of them. The windows appeared as if the glass had been busted out long ago, only to be replaced with thick, white spider silk. She continued to slowly push through the webbing that dangled from the ceiling. Faded and decaying portraits hung on the walls depicting a family of four: A husband, wife, son and daughter. Crystal cringed when she saw what appeared to be a small puppy being choked to death in the little girls hands while she wore a smile as if the act gave her great joy. Crystal shuddered and kept going, until she came to the first door. She nudged it with her foot as the door hinges groaned and revealed what must have been the daughter’s room, which housed a large collection of broken and mutilated dolls. Some were missing an eye, other an arm or a leg, while some were even missing their heads. While Crystal walked around the room examining its contents, Becca noticed the dolls eyes, the ones that still had them anyway, had their eyes trained on Crystal watching her every move. Their cracked and dirty faces smiled in such a way that raised all the hair on Becca’s arms. There was one particular doll Crystal couldn’t seem to pry herself away from. It sat on the bed with a sad expression on its face beckoning Crystal forward. Its face was made of porcelain underneath all the dirt and grime, its eyes were different colors and it wore a frilly pink dress. Compared to all the others it seemed to be in remarkable condition, but why it fascinated Crystal so much was beyond her. She seemed to be stuck in a trance gazing into its blue and green eyes.

“No, Crystal, move! It’s a trap!” Becca mumbled underneath her breath.

Suddenly Crystal seemed to snap out of it as quickly as she had gotten sucked in. She gave the room one last look over before turning around and heading back into the hallway. She couldn’t tell what this place was supposed to be. Was it this family’s house or was “deranged little girl” just another attraction?

When she kicked in the next door she found it was full of mirrors like a fun house. When she stood in front of them, she appeared different in each one. A tall slender looking mirror stretched her reflection until she looked like a creature out of some kind of CreepyPasta, while another made her short and fat. When Crystal came to the end of the row, one mirror, or what she assumed to be a mirror, was covered by an old and torn sheet. Her curiosity moved her forward despite the nervous anticipation she felt as she grabbed the ends of the fabric and pulled it off. At first she couldn’t really tell what she was looking at. Instead of seeing her reflection, all she saw were eight black dots. It was when the black dots began to move farther away that Crystal realized they were eyes-large baseball sized eyes.

She tried to run, but a hairy leg smashed through the glass with a loud smash and grabbed Crystal leg pulling her into the dark depths behind the paned glass. Crystal screamed and tried to grab onto anything she could to get free, but the giant spider the size of a car continued to drag her into its lair. When her ride was over, she sprang to her feet noticing the large sacks of web holding the half eaten remains of the family that used to live there.

She quickly knocked a bow and shot at the spider as it hissed as the arrow knocked off it’s protective shell. She shot another and then another before having to dive out of the way and hide inside a small crevice.

Becca noticed something strange about the cave Crystal was in. There appeared to be lighted torches along the walls and one was not that far from the green haired girl stuck inside a small crack in the cave walls. Becca tried to think how Crystal could get out of the situation she was in. While it was true she couldn’t feel pain, getting eaten alive would probably disqualify her. There had to be a reason she was in this situation. Spiders were the thing she feared after all. Did she have to fight it? How though, Crystal’s arrows seemed to not even faze the thing. What was a spider’s weak point? Becca tried to picture the anatomy of a spider in her mind, and immediately thought of the area where it shoots out its web.

“You have to shoot an arrow up its butt!” Crystal frowned and looked around confused. She could have sworn she heard a voice telling her where to shoot. She put her hand in her quiver of arrows and realized she only had two left. If she planned to get out undigested she’d have to make it count. She grabbed an arrow and moaned in disgust; it was the arrow she had used to knock down all the webs. She looked up as a sudden idea popped into her head. She hated to do it, but it was the best she could come up with at the moment. She grabbed as much webbing as she could wrapping it around an arrow before running out from her hiding place and holding it over the torch so that the webbing would catch on fire.

“C’mon, C’mon.” Crystal moaned as the arrow caught fire just as the spider approached with its fangs barred. “Here goes!” Crystal said running for all she was worth as the spider chased after her. She jumped in the pit as the spider stood over it exposing its spinnerets just as Crystal let her flaming arrow fly. In a blink of an eye the spider exploded leaving trails of green guts all along the walls, ceiling and all over Crystal like a scene out of Tremors. “UGH!” Crystal moaned spitting out guts and cringed until she spotted a blue flag sitting in a puddle of guts.

Becca ran up excited once Crystal re-appeared through the door clutching the flag and dripping with spider goop. Crystal had done it! She made it! She conquered her fears and …uh-oh…

“Con-congratulations.” Becca smiled nervously as Crystal glared at her darkly. “You did it!” She said backing up step by step as she green haired girl approached with a squishing sound every step she made leaving a trail of slime in her wake.

“I’m going to kill you!” Crystal yelled charging as Sasha took off running while yelling for someone to come save her.

………………………………………………………………………………….  
“Congratulations everyone who has made it this far.” Mr. Clean said obviously reading from a prompt. “Each of you is 1: 10,000. You should be proud to have made it and become members of the Sphere Protection Program.”

Becca nodded her head grinning like mad despite the fact that she was now coated in spider guts once Crystal had caught up with her and tackled her to the ground. Were there only five of them that passed? Becca wondered looking at everyone’s face. There was her, Crystal, Arnold- Anthony, That-Lady-With-The-Elf-Ears, and one other guy.

“Has everyone already gotten their plugs?” Mr. Clean asked as everyone nodded their heads expect for Becca and Crystal.

“What are those?” Becca asked.

“These.” Arnold-Anthony said taking off his fedora and showing Becca the back of his head. Becca’s eyes went wide as she saw what appeared to be connectors coming from right where the neck meets the skull.

“So you two have never been in a full dive before?” Mr. Clean asked as the two girls shook their heads. “You’ll have to go to a dive center and get the put in. It’s where the connecters are placed to put you into a full dive. Just a word of warning; it’s going to hurt.”


	11. Chapter 11

The first thing Becca saw when taking off her helmet was her mom standing over her with her arms crossed. Becca was so excited to tell her the good news that she almost missed the giant scowl across her face as her eyes looked down at her full of disgust.

“Mom, I-” Becca began to say, but was quickly cut off.

“Were you honestly playing games all day that you couldn’t even be bothered to get up and go the bathroom? Am I going to have to remind you to stop playing and go potty like a toddler because honestly, Becca, with the way you’ve been acting lately; I can’t tell if you’re 18 or two.” Heather said while throwing up her hands in frustration.

Becca stared at her in confusion while she finished her rant until a cold dampness alerted her to the problem. At some point she had soaked herself and her bedding while she was in the Sphere. Becca stared down at her lap dumbfounded. How long had she been gone for? She glanced at the time and noticed she had only been gone for four hours; clearly not enough to time for her to have wet herself out of desperation. Becca hung her head in shame at the realization of what happened. She must have wet herself in fear during the test. To Becca, that was worse than simply being in the Sphere for too long; it showed that she was weak.

“Am I going to have to put you in a diaper every time you go in there? What am I going to do if I can’t trust you to take care of yourself?” Heather continued.

“I’m sorry,” Becca mumbled hanging her head. “I wasn’t playing games.”

“You spend too much time in there!” Heather said.

“It’s because I miss him.” Becca said quietly. “I like to go back and read all of our old conversations.” Becca said purposefully allowing herself to tear up while Heather’s sharp glare softened a bit seeing the pitiful look on her daughters face. “I just miss him so much.” Becca had only meant to slightly play it up for leniency, but the hot tears that uncontrollably fell from her face were the real deal. Just knowing he was alive wasn’t enough; he might have well have been dead.

Brian was not only Becca’s brother, but also her best friend. She hadn’t realized how much she had been hurting without him. For whatever reason, he just wasn’t there anymore. No more daily messages back and forth, and no one to share in her joy and pain. He hadn’t even made it to their Sunday zombie slaying that they never missed. Whatever situation he was in was her fault and there was nothing she could do to help him. So what if she played a few more games than normal and locked herself in her room? Becca rolled over and put her wet back to Heather and let go of all of the pent up feelings she had been harboring into her pillow.

“I take it you want to be alone.” Heather said with a sigh, as she was about to head for the door, but stopped when Becca shook her head.

“I don’t want to be alone!” Becca bawled into her pillow. “I’m always alone; I just want everything to go back to the way it was.” She said between gasps for air between her heavy sobs. She flinched out of reflex when she felt a hand gently touch her back, but relaxed when she felt it slowly move up her shoulders and back down carefully avoiding the still sensitive areas. Becca hadn’t felt another persons touch since her time in the hospital. She felt the bed sink in as her mom sat down on the edge and manually rolled Becca over so that her head was resting in Heather’s lap.

Heather gently stroked Becca’s head while lightly combing her long black hair with her fingers. “I’m sorry I’ve been so hard on you lately.” Heather said as Becca remained still and quiet. She hadn’t cuddled up in her mom’s lap like this since she was little, and she certainly hadn’t been spending more time than she absolutely had to with her. “You’ve been pulling away; I don’t want to lose both my children.” Heather said with a sniffle.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, and everything about our family has changed. All we ever do is fight now. Virtual reality has just been better than real reality right now.” Becca said softly into her mom’s stomach.

“I know, but it’s not real. I’m just concerned with how much time you’ve been spending up here by yourself. “

“I miss the way things used to be.” Becca mumbled as Heather agreed as the two sat quietly together until Becca broke the ice. “I’m going to miss you.”

“What do you mean?” Heather asked, concerned that Becca’s depression had taken a turn for the worst and this was her way of saying good-bye before she did something drastic.

“I got in.” Becca said softly. “To the SPP, I was accepted.”

“What? Are you sure you didn’t just misunderstand something? Are you sure it’s not just another test?” Becca sighed. That was her mom for you; always the realist.

“Yes, I’m sure; I’ve been testing all day and they said I passed. I just need to sign all the paperwork and get the dive implants put in tomorrow.” Becca said frowning when she heard Heather’s breath hitch. “What? What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy for me.”

“I’m just… surprised is all. I thought they only took the best.”

“Gee, thanks, mom.” Becca said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I just didn’t think you’d-“

“You didn’t think I’d get in.” Becca said sitting back up and staring at her mom in disbelief.

“I thought it was something you’d get into…eventually. I didn’t think you’d actually get in on the first try, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy for you. I just wasn’t prepared to be saying good-by so soon.” She explained as the hurt look on Becca’s face subsided. “So what happens? How long will you be gone for?”

“Every other week.” Becca said as Heather visibly relaxed.

“Way to make it way more dramatic.” Heather said smiling. “What are you going to miss me for if you’ll only be gone a week at a time?”

“In reality it will be a week, but with the time altering drug, it will be a year. For me I’ll be gone a year, be back a week, gone a year, back a week etc.” Becca explained.

“Are you sure it’s safe? That doesn’t sound very safe.”

“I think so.” Becca said not sounding very confident either. “I made it through the fear chamber; I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“The what?”

“It was the last test we had today.”

“You were testing today? Why didn’t you tell us? I thought you were up here al day playing games.” Heather said as Becca shook her head even though that was what she was usually doing all day. “So what was this fear test?”

“This machine scanned your brain and it projected your deepest fear on the other side of the door.”

“Ooh, sounds scary! So what was your deepest fear?”

“Spiders,” Becca lied. “Big, hairy spiders.”

“Oh, I thought you were over your fear of spiders.” Heather said as Becca shrugged. She didn’t remember ever being afraid of spiders. It must have been when she was little and Brian had still been living at home. There was a time before the pony incident where they didn’t get along. “It took you a long time to go to bed on your own after that.” Heather said.

“After what?”

“After Brian put his tarantula in your bed as a prank. You must have been about three or so. It freaked you out so bad you made your father and I check your bed for spiders every night for the longest time.” Becca chuckled. She didn’t remember that, but it sounds like something Brian would do. The two of them were always trying to pull one over on each other for fun. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad her mother had bought her story about the spiders. She didn’t think Heather would have believed her greatest fear was heights or store mannequins. Becca would definitely rather have her mom think she was afraid of spiders than…

“Now if we could just get you over your fear of ponies.” Heather said giggling while Becca blushed.

“I-I am not afraid of ponies.” Becca lied crossing her arms with a pout.

“Honey, remember that time when you were 13 and refused to sit at the table the waiter brought us to because a little girl a booth over was holding a stuffed unicorn?” Heather said trying not to laugh. “We had to wait an extra half-hour to get a seat where you wouldn’t be in line of sight of the doll.”

Becca grumbled as she admitted defeat. She had completely forgotten about that.

“Spiders, sure it was.” Heather said with a wink as Becca smiled and rested her head in her mom’s lap as Heather resumed combing out her daughters hair with her fingers. Finally, Becca thought with a content sigh. It finally felt more like it used to.

After another twenty minutes, Becca had all but fallen asleep, but a gentle whisper in her ear reminded her of her situation. “You should probably get cleaned up.” Heather suggested. “Don’t worry about the bedding, I’ll get it. You just hop in the shower.” Heather said once Becca stood and examined the damage. “And don’t worry.” She added when Becca was halfway to the door. “I won’t tell your father you peed your pants because of the big, scary ponies.” She said with a grin as Becca stood in the doorway blushing and at a loss for words.


	12. Chapter 12

“You know you didn’t have to come with me… either of you.” Becca said to her parents that walked slowly on either side of her. She was putting up a fight more for show than anything; she wasn’t about to admit she was actually grateful that they came, or heaven forbid, she actually needed the help getting around. Inwardly though, Becca was just thrilled that they were together and leaving the house.

“You can barely even walk. We don’t want anyone knocking you over.” Heather said linking arms with her and guiding her inside.

“Just look at how busy this place is!” Trevor said holding the door open and gesturing to the completely empty lobby. “You’re bound to hurt yourself if we turn our backs on you for even a second.”

The place was empty save for one man who looked about in his thirties working the front desk. Business had slowed for Sphere Centers ever since the home console had been released. Not many people could afford regular full dives, let alone the cost of the procedure to do them. Becca wasn’t sure how she would be able to afford this. Would her parents help her out? They had always said they wouldn’t pay for this, but now she was getting it done because she needed it for the SPP rather than just playing games. Maybe they’d make an exception, she hoped.

Becca scanned her chip at the front desk as means of checking in before slowly making her way towards the chairs. The man from earlier called her up a few minutes later, but Trevor went up in her place and returned with a tablet of information for her to fill out. It was just the usual health and safety warnings, Becca realized as she scanned through page after page, before pressing her palm on the prompt as sign of her agreement as it registered her handprint. Next there were several questions about her health, and if she was currently taking any medications. Next came a video about the procedure itself. She grimaced as she watched three of the biggest needles she had ever seen get plunged into the back of someone’s neck as if it was as common a thing as a simple piercing.

“Nervous?” Trevor asked seeing Becca’s white face. She nodded her head showing him the video as he too cringed. She relaxed a bit once she learned she would be in virtual reality at the time they inserted the tubes. Part of her was afraid she’d be awake due to the helmet being in the way, but apparently the thing that inserted the tubes would be connected to the back of the helmet. She had been dreading this ever since the Mr. Clean look alike told her it would hurt, but after a while she realized her was just messing with her. At least that’s what she hoped anyway.

When she was scrolling through the list of games to choose from, Heather looked over and said, “Oh look, Becca, they have a pony game.” She teased pointing to the picture of the smiling unicorns.

“Be brave, honey!” Trevor said with a smile that made Becca believe her mother had gone back on her promise. She narrowed her eyes as Heather whistled and pretended to be utterly captivated by the ceiling fixtures. Becca sighed, but inwardly she was just glad that her family was moving in the right direction until Brian decided to come out of hiding.

She flipped through her choices of various games and simulations that ranged from racing to space exploration, an over 18 eroge with doggie girls on leashes, and as her mother had so kindly pointed out, a game with unicorns. Becca finally settled on a pre-historic safari through the jungle when the idea of riding a velociraptor popped into her head.

“Oh, so you’re okay with dinosaurs, but heaven forbid my teenage daughter sit next to a little girl with a stuffed unicorn.” Heather teased while shaking her head.

“Becca, you can come back now.” The man working the front counter said holding the door open for her as she slowly hobbled over. While she walked down the hallway at what seemed to be a snails pace, she couldn’t help but notice the place seemed to be in a bit of disarray. Rooms were being re-arranged, and packed boxes were sitting in the hallway. “Sorry about the mess.” The young man named Tom explained. “We’ve had a bit of a crazy morning ever since we heard the news we’ll be getting new equipment sent over tomorrow. There’s a rumor going around someone in this town got into the SPP and that’s why we’re being told to clear out a room in such a panic. We’re getting a pod and even…” he said before lowering his voice. “the drug.”

Becca smiled as she tried her best to keep from blurting out the truth. She was strictly forbidden from telling anyone outside of family that she had been accepted. People compared getting in with the SPP to winning the lottery, so there was no way she was going to risk getting kicked out for 15 minutes of fame.

“Can you imagine someone in our small town getting in?” He continued. “I apply every year, but I never even make it past the essay portion; if I made that kind of money.” He said whistling. Becca had never thought about the fact that she would be getting paid; she didn’t even know what kind of salary a cadet started out with. Maybe she’d make enough by the time she graduated to move somewhere warmer where she couldn’t get her butt frozen to anything.

He led Becca to a room and walked her through the procedure while showing her the helmet with the cylinders in the back. She began feeling a little woozy seeing exactly what was about to be plunged into her skull. So much so that the man insisted she sit down and left to get her a cup of water. “And here I was thinking you were the cadet.” Tom said with a laugh handing her the cup.

“Why would you think that?” Becca asked nervously.

“Well whoever paid for the procedure went all out. You’re getting the VIP treatment.”

“I am?” Becca asked confused. Her heart soared when she heard the word, “paid.” She had assumed this was coming out of her own pocket, but she was pleasantly surprised to learn the SPP had already footed the bill.

“Unlimited add-ons!” He said excitedly walking over to the console. “Anything you want to happen can happen. What’ll it be? Giant chickens instead of T-rexes? Kittens with laser beams for eyes?” He said looking eager before grinning as if he had a sudden idea. “Do you, uh, have a sense of humor?”

“Yeah,” Becca answered unsure of whether or not she liked the look on his face.

“On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your maturity level when it comes to humor?” He asked with his eyebrows raised.

“Somewhere around twelve year old boy.” Becca said as his face lit up and his fingers danced up and down the keyboard typing in commands left and right. That seemed to be exactly what he wanted to hear and ten minutes later, Becca was strapped to the table by her ankles, legs, waist, arms and shoulders.

“Let me just go over this with you one more time.” Tom said. “You’ll start off in a regular partial dive, you know, enjoy the scenery and all that. About 15 minutes in is when the helmet will activate the plungers.”

“Will it hurt?” Becca asked, her green eyes wide with fear.

“You won’t feel any pain, but rather a sort of tingling through out your body. That’s when you’ll start to feel the effects and differences of a full dive. You’ll be able to smell, taste, touch, and all that for the first time. The rest of your dive will be a full dive where we will monitor you and make sure everything is working properly.”

“And when I wake up?” Becca asked as he grimaced.

“We’ll be ready with some painkillers and a bag of ice.” He said apologetically. “Just think of how much fun you’ll have now though! Trust me, it’s worth it! Besides,” He said lowering his voice, “With all the unlimited add-ons and all that, be thankful you’re not paying out of pocket.”

“How much would it have cost?”

“About….$20,000.” He said as Becca’s eyes bulged. “Like I said, you’re getting the VIP treatment, so just have fun and it’ll be over before you know it.” He said lowering the helmet over Becca’s head until all she saw was blackness.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

When Sasha came to she was standing in the middle of a jungle, the thick green foliage blocking her view from everything. She spent the first few minutes trying to fight her way through the vegetation, but with no way of knowing which way she had come it left her feeling a tad bit frustrated and disoriented. If only I had a machete. When she raised her right hand to push past some branches, she was more than surprised to find her desired item had appeared.

“Sweet,” Sasha said gripping the new weapon while giving it a once over before using it to hack her way through. It must have been one of the add-ons he had mentioned. Finally after a few minutes of slicing and dicing branches, leaves, and the occasional spider web, she came to a clearing. What she saw made her break out in a large grin. Something extremely large had recently passed through leaving a trail of massive footprints in its wake. “I found the T-rex.” Sasha said excitedly standing in the middle of the recently upturned earth. In between the giant footprints appeared to be a trail as if something was being dragged along. Sasha assumed it much have had some kind of prey in its mouth and was dragging it home to eat for later.

Sasha fallowed the 3 claw mark patterns along the newly formed trail of now snapped and broken trees that appeared as if a bulldozer had pushed them aside effortlessly, until she stumbled upon the second thing that had obviously been modded. The smallest and most adorable looking silver tabby kitten sat in the middle of one of the impressions the T-rex had left behind, licking its front paw and then using it to clean its face.

“So cute!” Sasha said squatting down nearby and offering her hand to it. “Come here little kitten, can I pet you?” She asked paying no mind that a cat shouldn’t have been in this pre-historic simulator to begin with. The kitten briefly looked up, with its large blue eyes locked on Sasha, and in the sweetest and most innocent voice she had ever heard, the kitten told her to f-off before turning around and leaving. “Well now.” Sasha said once she had regained her composure.

As she walked along, she noticed many things that were different. Owls with the heads of cats sat perched in the tree branches making obscene sexual female moaning sounds every time they opened their mouths as she passed below. The body of a chipmunk scurried by on the hairy legs of a giant tarantula and when Sasha looked up, she frowned when she saw pegisi with snouts of pigs soaring through the clouds. She had to hand it to Tom; he certainly had quite the imagination.

For a pre-historic simulator though, there wasn’t much in the way of dinosaurs she realized. She wanted to find a velociraptor before she could feel pain in case it decided she looked like a tastier morsel than the flying pig ponies.

Sasha froze mid –step when she heard a rustling to her right in the foliage that had survived the T-rex’s stampede. When a raptor appeared she quickly hid behind a fallen tree as she tried to suppress her giggles. It wore a top hat, monocle and sported a handlebar mustache. When had sent Sasha over the edge though, was when it zapped a nearby tree with a laser that shot from its eyes. A frickin raptor with lasers for eyes. It was everything Sasha could ever have hoped for and then some. That was until she saw what happened to the tree. She had expected it to explode… instead it turned into the shape of a penis. Sasha began to wonder if illegal drugs were part of Tom’s daily regimen.

When the raptor turned its sites towards the tree Sasha was hiding behind that was when she realized that was her cue to run. She quickly rolled out of the way just as her hiding place became phallicized. Sasha sprinted for all she was worth, while imagining that she held a shotgun in her hands. Once it materialized, she spun around intending for an instant kill only to have her shotgun go from a weapon of mass destruction to a weapon of ass destruction. She quickly threw it away in disgust not even wanting to know what would happen if she pulled the trigger.

She needed a plan she thought as she ran. Everything around her on either side was being turned into a schlong and if she couldn’t think of something soon, she’d be ending up as one too. Sasha knew she acted like a dick sometimes online, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be turned into one. At least the raptor had the aim of a storm trooper.

Suddenly a strong electrical current ran up and down her body as she slowly began feeling the cold wind in her face as her arms and legs stung from getting slashed by the branches she ran through. “Not now!” She groaned as the raptor was not far behind now. She didn’t want to know what it felt like to get her arm bitten off. A roar so loud that shook the ground and nearby trees sent Sasha stumbling to the ground. Something huge was approaching. It felt like a mini earthquake with every step it took until in the most clique dinosaur movie move, the T-REX appeared at the last second before opening its jaws and devouring the raptor that had it sights set on Sasha.

She sat there stunned on the ground as rainbows instead of red blood streamed out of its mouth. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Only once the creature had fully emerged from the trees did she realize the thing it was dragging on the ground between its legs earlier wasn’t its prey, but rather its own penis. It was the biggest thing she had ever seen. It wasn’t a Tyrannosaurus Rex; it was a Cock-o-saurus Rex! And she was about to get tea-bagged to death if she didn’t get a move on! Tom was gay; he just had to be. No straight guy would put this many penises into one game.

Summoning another machete, Sasha sliced through the plants as fast as she could, but it was much harder now that she could feel the weight of the sword in her hand. Her arm was quickly getting sore from all the swinging, and she was having a difficult time trying to catch her breath. Why did she have to pick this one as her first full dive? Maybe she should have just taken the pony one. It was dangerous, it smelled, and there were more dicks than on a reddit forum. Sasha came barreling into another clearing and froze as four heads wearing top hats, and monocles looked up.

“Uh-oh…”  
………………………………………………………………….

The first thing Becca felt coming to was the pounding in the back of her head. “Ugh.” She moaned as Tom gently removed her helmet before bandaging the back of her head.

“What did you think?” Tom asked undoing the straps that held Becca down to the table.

“Please tell me my arms are no longer penises.” Becca mumbled as Tom laughed.

“The raptors got you, eh?” he asked helping her slowly sit up as he handed her a bag of ice for her head.

“Got cornered by four of them after I ran into your cock-a-saurus rex.” Becca said glad to see her regular arms once again.

“I am officially naming it that now, thank you.” Tom said. “My boyfriend  
came up with that idea, but I’m proud to say the raptors were all mine.” He said proudly.

I knew it, Becca thought smiling weakly. “My head is killing me.”

“You got the best and smallest implants on the market, just imagine if you got this done five years ago.” Tom said leading her out. “Did you hear the SPP found a fake version of the drug on the deep web?”

Becca froze as her blood ran cold. It couldn’t be the same thing Brian had been working on… “R-really?” Becca asked nervously.

“Yeah, turns out it’s been linked to the recent deaths.”

“D-deaths? What deaths?” Becca said starting to panic.

“Haven’t you been watching the news? More and more people have been dying from their injuries sustained in virtual reality. Apparently the fake drug has been linked with causing the brain to believe their injuries are real. Can you imagine getting shot in virtual reality and waking up with an actual bullet wound?”

Becca broke out in a cold sweat. This was why her brother had been in hiding for the last month. Just what had he gotten himself into?


	13. Chapter 13

Becca sat quietly in the backseat trying to digest what she had just heard. People were dying because of what Brian had created…that couldn’t be true! It wasn’t like he was the one who had put it on the market. The guys who had broken it and stolen it were clearly the ones at fault, right? After all Becca had specifically heard Brian tell them that it was untested. Lots of people make un-safe stuff! It’s trial and error! That’s why these kinds of things were tested first on mice and rats.

A small fear in the back of her head began to grow despite her logical side fighting for all it was worth. What if it wasn’t the people that had broken in that released it to the public but Brian himself? What if she had it all backwards? What if the people who had broken in were the people she was about to work for? What if the SPP only accepted her to get to Brian? That would make more sense than someone like her getting in. So many possibilities and what ifs raced through her pounding head that did nothing to alleviate her headache. She didn’t know what to do or think anymore. She had been so excited and had felt so honored to be chosen, but now she questioned their motivations. Clearly there were other people more deserving than her, which only led her to believe there was some form of ulterior motive.

“You’re awfully quiet back there.” Trevor commented looking back in his rear-view mirror. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Becca mumbled letting out a heavy sigh while feeling hopelessly trapped in the prison that was her own mind.

“You don’t sound alright.” Heather said sounding concerned. “Becca, have you been taking your medication?” Great, here it comes, she thought grumbling. “Becca?” Heather asked again.

“Yes, I’m taking it!” Becca said a little too quickly as she stared out the window. Taking it and flushing it down the toilet that is. “Sorry, it’s just my head hurts.” She said. It was true after all. Her head felt like there was a nest of wasp strapped underneath her bandages and were trying to burrow into the back of her skull in protest. If this was the best money could buy she hated to know what the cheap version felt like.  
………………………………………………….

“So, Becca, tell me. How are things?” Dr. Finnick, the psychiatrist from before asked while Becca wondered how she had managed to get talked back into coming to this place.  
“It’s going better.” Becca said after taking a second to think about it. Things really had drastically improved in the last few days. She doubted things would ever be the same again since she imagined her mother wouldn’t be too pleased to found out Brian had been faking his own death, but they were certainly better than they had been before.

“Better how?” Dr. Finnick asked.

“With my family.” She admitted telling the truth for once. “Once I was finally able to admit to my mom how much I missed Brian, our relationship has been better. She’s not taking it out on me anymore.”

“And how are you doing with that?”

“About the same.” She said with a shrug. It wasn’t something she really wanted to talk about.

“Have you gotten any more messages from him?” He asked surprising Becca a bit. What happened to him telling her she needed to accept his death?

“No,” She said disappointment evident in her voice. He hadn’t even responded to her getting accepted and if that hadn’t gotten him to talk; he really must be in a situation where he couldn’t.

“Do you still believe he’s alive?” He asked peeking over the tops of his wire-rimmed glasses. Becca wondered why he didn’t just get laser eye surgery to correct his vision; almost no one wore glasses anymore. She had a hard time taking anyone seriously that didn’t get with the times.

“Yeah, I do.” Becca admitted as he scribbled something down in his notes. “I think he’s in some kind of trouble.” There was no real point in lying here; he was legally bound to secrecy after all and she felt as if she was cracking underneath the pressure of bearing all this information alone.

“Go on,” He said without looking up.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story. I guess I should start off by saying I got accepted into the SPP.” Becca said. She figured it was ok to tell him since he was her psychiatrist; it wasn’t like she was blabbing to any civilian on the street. The Dr. looked at her in such a way that reminded Becca of a parent listening to a small child telling an enormous lie.

“I see.” He finally said after a moment of silence sounding as if he was talking to a person who had just told him they believed they were the re-incarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. It irritated Becca to no end that no one believed she was SPP material. She scowled while digging in her pocket and retrieving proof in the form of her congratulatory notice of acceptance. She hit the print button on her phone and a red laser appeared creating a physical copy in the palm of her hand in mere seconds. She had to admit those built in temporary 4-D printers really came in handy for times like this. Becca handed him the letter with a slight smug satisfaction while she watched him read the message.

“Oh,” Was all he managed to say before the letter disintegrated in the palm of his hand once he was done with it. The look on his face more than made up for his lack of words. Maybe now he would take her more seriously. “You must be very excited; being selected is quite the honor.” He said once he had recovered.

“Oh, I am!” Becca said listing off all the things she was looking forward to. “There’s one thing I’m a little worried about though.” She admitted. “I think my brother is in hiding from the people I’m about to go work for?”

“Why do you say that?” He asked unsure of what to make of the situation now.

“I know he would never purposefully hurt anyone, but he may have created the drug that’s killing people.” Becca said. The first thing she had done after getting home that day was research everything she could about what had been happening in the world since she had been locking herself in her room. She was never that good about keeping up with current events to begin with, so what she saw came as a shock. There had been a total of seven confirmed deaths linked with the drug being marketed under the name “Euphoria”. It was all as Tom said. Something about it was increasing the sensitivity in the brain to virtual wounds. People all over the world who had taken this drug were being rushed to the hospital after waking up with injuries sustained in virtual reality.

“Becca?” The Dr. said snapping her from her thoughts.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

“I asked why that would make you un-easy?”

“I can’t help but wonder why I got into the SPP. What if it was the SPP that had broken in and stolen the drug Brian was working on. If that was the case and he was running from them, then wouldn’t it mean I was only accepted so they could get to Brian?” She asked. It had really been bugging her.

“We all doubt our own abilities sometimes, Becca. Do you think you are using this situation as a way to justify your acceptance?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you go through tests like everyone else?”

“Yeah, there were some interviews and this one test that was pretty hard.” Becca said unsure of how much she was allowed to tell him.

“And did you pass without any additional help?”

“Yes, but-“

“Then you were chosen because of your abilities, not because of who your brother may or may not have been.” He said continuing before Becca could let the words have been sink in. “You should hold your head up high. If you passed all the tests like you say you did; then you deserve this. Don’t let anyone, yourself or otherwise, convince you that you don’t.”

Becca nodded her head quietly. Maybe he was right; maybe she was just overthinking this because no one thought she was SPP material. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

“Here, I think this will do you some good.” He said handing her another prescription as Becca frowned. Another one? Was he trying to drug her? “I want you to stop taking the other one and take this one instead.”

“Sure,” Becca lied. These were going in the same place as the others.

……………………………………………………………………………

Christmas was fast approaching it seemed. The chilly mid-December air swept across Becca’s face and hair as she stood shivering on the front porch. She loved coming out here and watching the snow flakes falling in the glow of the Christmas lights that hovered mid air. Today marked exactly one month since her family had been torn apart by the intruders; which side of the law they were on was currently unknown to Becca and it continued to gnaw at her insides.

It was Sunday, and although she had all but given up hope of Brian joining her, it felt wrong of her to break the tradition. So Becca hobbled back inside, logged into the Sphere, and selected Brains, Tasty Brains, and logged into multi-player mode out of habit. It was an older game, but one of Brian’s and Becca’s favorites.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Sasha sat on the bench in the waiting for players lounge as she selected weapons from her inventory to equip. They had always met in room 213 at 7pm, so for the last month Sasha would come to room 213 to equip her items before being booted out. She knew she’d soon get an error message asking her if she wanted to play solo instead or join a different group. Essentially, it was a nice way to say You’ve been stood up, please leave so we can give the room to someone else. She let out a sigh as she checked the time. 7:15; today would be no different.

“Is this seat taken?” A voice asked coming from behind her. It wasn’t uncommon for people to wander in looking for an empty room or a group to play with.

“Go ahead, I was just leaving.” Sasha said without looking up before standing and turning towards the door. The person who entered stepped in front of her forcing Sasha to meet his face. She stood in place staring wide-eyed at the mystery intruder. “Brian!” She shouted throwing her arms around him.


	14. Chapter 14

“Brian! I missed you so much!” Sasha said squeezing her arms around her brother despite not being able to feel him.

“Missed you too.” He said as Sasha pulled away with a wide grin stretched across her face.

“I was so worried about you!” she said looking him up and down.

“I told you I was okay; you didn’t need to worry about me.” He said.

“I can’t wait to tell mom and dad you’re back; they’ll be so relieved, though I can’t promise you mom won’t kill you for making her worry. In fact, you’re lucky I don’t kill you.” Sasha said as the smile quickly dropped from Brian’s face.

“No, Becca, I still need everyone to think I’m dead.” He said holding Sasha still by her arms as she frowned in confusion.

“But why? Everyone’s really upset! Why can’t they know?”

“Look, it’s complicated okay. The fewer people that know I’m alive the better.”

“Brian, what happened? What’s going on?” Sasha demanded. If this wasn’t him coming out of hiding, than what was going on? Surely he hadn’t come just to play zombies with her. He looked stressed and tired. If only she could get him to relax.

“Do you really want to know?” He asked as Sasha nodded her head. She really did want to know, but it would have to wait. “Let’s go somewhere more private then; I know a place.”

“Just answer one question first: Laser or automatic?” She asked holding up the two guns as Brian’s face relaxed.

“You always know how to make me feel better.” He said with a smirk. She’d question him later, but for now, they had some catching up score wise to do.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
“You are so going down.” Sasha said into her helmets microphone. Out of all the years they had played this together she had never once beaten him. Brian was nervous, tired, worn-out and on the run, so like any good sibling, she was going to take advantage of that.

She peeked her head around the decaying corner before slowly stepping around the debris of the abandoned laboratory. Old green and white paint was chipping off the walls, broken glass was scattered along the floor from the blown out windows and there was a half torso of a human crawling towards her along the floor. Sasha jumped back before pulling the trigger and vaporizing it without a second thought. She hated those things; ankle biters she called them. They’d crawl out from behind stuff when you thought the coast was clear and latch on to a leg if you weren’t careful.

“Everything okay? You’re not dead yet are you? We haven’t even cleared the third floor yet.” Brian said.

“Just a crawler, I haven’t found the horde yet. What’s your count?”

“Three crawlers, two walkers, and a devil hound.” He said proudly. Damn, he was killing her. She smiled, nothing had changed.

“Damn, I’m-“ Sasha was about to say when her field of vision started flashing red. She was taking on damage! Sasha spun around only to find four walkers jumping on her with decayed, black, jagged teeth barred. She backed up as fast as she could, but they eventually over poured her.

Sorry, Game over.

Sasha found herself back in the lobby that acted as the game menu. She let out a sigh of defeat. She should have known better than to let her guard down. A few minutes later Brian appeared and the two went over their failed missions like they had hundreds of times before.

“Ah, thanks, Becca, I needed that.” Brian said grinning as he put his weapons away.

“I just realized you’re not in avatar form.” Sasha said with sudden clarity. He was just…Brian in the flesh. Not Eric, his avatar. Brian narrowed his eyes and sighed.

“It’s not safe to use Eric, they know what he looks like and will probably be alerted if I log on using him. I was going to make a new one, but then how would you recognize me?” Sasha shrugged. She never understood her brother’s logic, so why bother trying now. “I think we should go somewhere private now.” He suggested getting serious as Sasha nodded her head in agreement.  
……………………………………………………………………..

“A love hotel? Sasha asked in confusion after entering the address and appearing in front of the Two Hearts as One. “Why?” She couldn’t help but ask. “Who takes their little sister to a love hotel?”

“No one would look for me here and we can talk privately in a room.” He explained putting an arm around Sasha as she made a weird face as they walked towards the front desk. “Act normal.”

“My brother is taking me to a love hotel! How am I supposed to act?” She hissed back before smiling as the front desk lady began talking to Brian.

“Hello, will you be staying the night, or just resting?” She asked.

“Just resting, please.” Brian said smiling back as if absolutely nothing was wrong with this picture and slid his wrist underneath the scanner. She had never been inside a love hotel before! What if she saw or heard something that would scar her for life? She was in a building that’s sole purpose was for having sex. She eyed the walls as they walked together into the elevator while imagining STDs seeping through the cracks. Were people having sex right here in the elevator? Did they clean it like they cleaned the rooms? Part of her wanted to turn on Sphere vision, but the other part of her was afraid of what she would find. She huddled close to Brian in the hopes he would somehow protect her from the unknown horrors that lurked within this love hotel.

“Why are there love hotels in virtual reality anyway? It’s not like you could feel anything, so what’s the point?” Sasha asked stepped out of the elevator and looking around. She was a little surprised to find it looked like a plain old boring hotel.

“The same reason there’s love hotels in the real world.” He said cocking his head in confusion. “People can hook up in virtual reality too, obviously in full dives though.” He explained while leading her to their room. Becca wasn’t sure what to expect when Brian opened the door. A giant bed in the shape of a heart? A Jacuzzi in the middle of the room? Lit candles and flower petals leading a trail to the bed? She frowned when she peeked inside to find just a regular looking bed. There was absolutely nothing romantic about this room at all, but she supposed this was better. She was with her brother after all. That could have made this so much more awkward than it already was.

“So start spilling!” Sasha ordered once she was done peeking around the room while carefully avoiding the bed like the plague.

“What do you want to know?” He asked, sitting down on the bed obviously not caring about what had previously taken place there.

“Why have you been playing dead? Who’s after you? What’s going on?” She asked as Brian ran his hand through his black hair.  
“Have you been watching the news?” He finally asked as Sasha nodded her head.

“Was it your drug? The one that’s killing people?” Brian sighed as his hands shook.

“It was never supposed to get out to the public. It wasn’t ready! I hadn’t even tested it on lab mice yet! As for why I’ve been pretending to be dead; it’s for your safety as much as mine. If those people knew I was alive, they could come after you to get to me.” Finally it made perfect sense to Sasha. He had a point; they were in just as much danger as he was unless he pretended to be dead.

“Do you now who they were?” Sasha asked.

“I have no idea! I don’t even know how they found out I was even making a generic version. I’m going to find out though.” He said before meeting Sasha’s eyes. “I need to fix this, but I need your help to do this.”

“How can I help? Please, I’m so sorry! I want to make this right! If I had only listened to you…” Sasha said.

“Nothing would have changed.” Brian said. “If you’re serious about helping me, I need you to get me something from my house without mom or dad knowing. There’s a flash drive with all my research on it. I need you to make a copy and bring it to me. Can you do that?” She wanted to tell him she could barely walk, but the desperation in his eyes compelled her to agree. She had never seen her brother like this before, and finally, here he was presenting her a way she could help. She’d do anything she could to help him. If getting him his notes would keep more people from dying then she’d do it!

“I’ll get it to you. It might take a while, but I’ll figure out a way.” Sasha said.

“Please, I need you to hurry. Without that research, I can’t fix the drug.”

“Fix it?” Sasha asked.

“Yes, if I fix it than no one would want the faulty one.” Brian said. “I can’t control what people buy on the deep web. I could tell them until I’m blue in the face not to use it because it’s dangerous, but without something better, I don’t think I could convince people not to use it.” Sasha shrugged. She guessed he was right. He was the genius after all so she’d just have to trust him. “Oh, and by the way, congratulations!” He said with a wide smile that seemed to take up all of his face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before, but that’s awesome that you got accepted!”

“Thanks! It was hard.” Sasha admitted shuddering at the memories of what she had gone through in the Sphere simulator. She had wanted to tell him for so long, and now here she was talking with him. She was glad this wasn’t a full dive because her mouth would probably hurt from smiling so much. Here was proof sitting right in front of her that he was ok. He was alive, so screw you Dr. Finnick she thought with a smug smile. Grasping at straws my ass.

“Oh, look!” Sasha said showing him the back of her head. “I got the implants!”

“Becca, you realize this is virtual reality and I can’t see it, right?” he said with a grin.

“I-I knew that.” Sasha mumbled looking away. “I was just, uh, you know, showing you my new hair cut.”

“Oh, right, haircut.” He said with a laugh. “Sure. So how’d the procedure go?”

“It hurt so bad!” Sasha complained a bit over dramatically rubbing the back of her non-implanted head. “It felt like my head was going to split open all week!” In reality, it was more like a minor ache for two days. “And don’t even get my started on what I had to go through in virtual reality. Do you have any idea what it feels like to have your arms turned into penises?”

“Umm…no can’t say that I do.” Brian said cocking his head to the side. “Judging by the look on your face I’m going to assume I don’t want to know.”

“It was hot!” Sasha said as Brian recoiled.

“Umm, I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing, and I also didn’t need to know that.” He said as Sasha’s eyes grew wide at the realization of what she just said.

“I meant it burned!”

“You should probably get that checked out then.” He said grinning as Sasha rolled her eyes before chucking a pillow at his head.

“I couldn’t get away from the raptors with dick-vision once the full dive started kicking in and my back started hurting” She explained while shaking her head as if she were reliving a painful and traumatizing memory.

“Raptors with…dick vision?”

“Turned out the SPP paid for the full procedure AND unlimited add-ons. I was too nervous to think of any add-ons I wanted to the pre-historic safari and he said he had a few ideas so I let him.” Sasha said shrugging as Brian scowled.

“You let someone you didn’t know pick out your first full dive? You could have gotten hurt! Full dives aren’t like partial dives; not to mention you don’t know if you have the Necrobo Effect sensitivity.”

“I don’t think it’s biologically possible for my arms to turn into penises even if I did have the Necrobo disease.” Sasha insisted as Brian shook his head.

“That’s not the point; you didn’t even know what you had signed up for. What if you had accidentally volunteered for a rape game? Those things exist you know.” He scolded as Sasha hung her head. “You’re too trusting.”

Still as over-protective as always, she thought.

“What happened to your back?” he asked breaking the silence that had hung in the room.

“I got shot in the back.” Sasha reminded him feeling a bit confused. She was sure she had messaged him about it when she was in the hospital. His face fell as he grimaced and he seemed worried about something. “I’m ok though now.” Sasha lied in order to re-assure him. It was her fault she got hurt anyway.

“I’m sorry you got hurt.” Brian said while clenching his fists tightly together. “Can you still get the research, Becca? It’s really important.”

“I promise I’ll find a way to get it to you.” Sasha said as Brian visibly relaxed.

“Thank you, look I need to go. I can’t stay in place for too long.” Brian said standing up as Sasha frowned.

“Please don’t leave! We just got here and…and…” Sasha begged stumbling over her words. “I miss you.” She said throwing her arms around her brother while wishing she could feel him.

“I miss you too, Becca. When do you join?” He asked once they parted.

“The day after New Years. Can we meet again before then?”

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises. When you find the research, please send it to this address.” He said sending her a message. “Please stay out of trouble.” He said sending her a pleading look before walking out the door.

Sasha sat on the bed staring off into space as she let her mind wander. Brian had confirmed everything that she had suspected. He was in danger, people were after him, and it was his drug that was causing the deaths of people. At least it wasn’t him that had put it on the market, she was more than happy to hear that. Not to mention he was alive! She was 100 percent convinced now and it felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She smiled widely before falling back on the bed. One day they’d be a family again, although she didn’t know when that would be; it didn’t matter. Finally, she could help make things right as well! Why did she even blame herself all this time? She wondered staring up at the ceiling before sitting up and looking around the room.

Sphere Vision on!

Sasha’s eyes widened in horror as she looked around the room. Oh god oh god oh god. She quickly hopped off the bed as what had previously been invisible now shone brightly in Sphere Vision. Gross gross gross! Why did I do that? It’s on the bed, it’s on the walls, and HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET IT ON THE CEILING? Sasha thought before running out the room. Shower! I need a shower!


	15. Chapter 15

The next few days seemed to crawl slowly along. Becca spent most of her time lost in a world of planning and scheming. How could she get to Brian’s house without raising suspicion? How could she even get to Brian’s house period? She could barely walk as it was let alone drive the hover bike, walk down the stairs to Brian’s lab and search the place.

Walking was still a slow and painful experience, and the healing process seemed to be taking its sweet time. For the last few days Becca’s back had been in much more pain than usual. It could be much worse she knew. If the bullet had been even an inch more to the right she may never have walked again. Becca was thankful that it hadn’t come to that, but it still agitated her nonetheless that she needed help with simple things. Some days were of course better than others. While moving much slower than the average person, she could still dress herself, but bending down to tie her shoes was out of the question. It almost seemed like the more she needed to hold on to something, the more likely she was to drop it and not be able to pick it up.

Other days though the pain was so severe she needed help with the smallest and simplest of tasks, but instead of simply asking for help, she just wouldn’t do it. Becca would rather lounge around in three-day-old clothes than ask her mom to help dress her. On her bad days, Becca would hide in her room and stay in virtual reality as long as possible. Before, she used it to escape from the pain and guilt of what happened to Brian, but now that she knew he was okay, there was nothing to distract her from her physical pain.

Heather had assumed for the longest time that Becca simply liked lounging around in her own filth since no amount of nagging seemed to motivate her. It wasn’t until later on that mid December afternoon when Heather was going to drag Becca out of bed, whether she wanted to or not, did she walk in and discover Becca trying- and failing- to take off an old shirt. Heather stood silently in the doorway for a second taking in the scene of her daughters struggle. Her first reaction was to laugh, as it appeared Becca had managed to simply get herself stuck. It was when Heather could hear the faint sounds of sobbing coming from underneath the shirt stuck over Becca’s head did she realize there was a problem.  
Heather gently threaded her daughter’s arms through and lifted the shirt off Becca’s head, only to find a tear-streaked face underneath. “Why didn’t you say something?” Heather asked. Becca simply shook her head. How could she put into words how humiliating it was that she couldn’t even dress herself on her bad days. And lately it seemed everyday was a bad day. “How long has this been going on for?”

“A few days.” Becca mumbled. “Most days I can dress myself, but sometimes…” She said standing awkwardly half naked in her room while her mom picked out some clean clothes from the closet. “It’s just right now it hurts so bad I can barely move my arms a few inches past my side without feeling pain.”

“Oh, Becca,” Heather said quietly after getting a look at her back. The last time Heather had seen the wound was two weeks ago. It had been barely the size of a half dollar and was healing quite nicely, but now the once small area took up nearly half of Becca’s lower back due to the swelling. It was red and irritated while puss oozed out a small opening. “No wonder it hurts; it’s infected! Come on, let’s get you to the bathroom and get this cleaned up.” Heather said guiding her to the bathroom.

“AHH!” Becca screamed when Heather lightly touched the outer area with a damp washcloth.

“I don’t like the way this looks. TREVOR!” She suddenly yelled into the hallway making Becca flinch from the sudden loud noise.

“Mom, no! I’m not wearing a shirt!” Becca complained. She doubted she could move her arms up in order to cover herself. Heather shifted her so that she facing the bathtub with her back exposed to the open door as Trevor came to see what the problem was.

“Wow,” Was all Trevor could say when he saw the oozing sore.

“I’m not sure what to do.” Heather said lightly pressing the outer area as Becca screamed again. “Should we take her back to the hospital?” The hospital? She’d never be able to get Brian his research if she was in the hospital! How long would she be in there for? A day? A week? What about Christmas? Would they have to celebrate Christmas in the hospital?

“No, no hospital!” Becca moaned.

“I’m sorry, Becca, but you need antibiotics.” Heather said. “Trevor, can you help me get her in the car?”

“Shirt! Someone get me a shirt!” Becca insisted. No way was she going anywhere in public topless. Heather tried a few loose fitting t-shirts, but by the third attempt they all realized it was a no go. The open sore throbbed painfully with every movement and Becca was sure it had opened up in the last attempt to feed her arm through the sleeve. She was almost to the point of openly sobbing again from the pain of the air. Every movement she made was utter agony, and so in the second most awkwardest moment in the last two months Trevor somehow managed to scoop her up with one arm under her butt and another under her shoulder and carried her to the car topless.

Becca leaned forward as much as she could in the backseat of the van to prevent the material from touching her back. She hardly even cared that she almost caused a fender bender at the stoplight when a driver along side the van did a double take when he noticed she was topless. Trevor, in the most dad move possible, lifted up his own shirt and flashed him his own hairy nipples when he noticed the peeping tom. She smiled knowing he was only trying to make her feel better. She would have been in fits of laughter if it hadn’t been for the pain. Heather simply shook her head and sighed having long given up on understanding the two of them.

The walk into the emergency room was much the same as the walk to the car with Becca resting her chin on Trevor’s shoulder like a small child. It was weird, yet oddly comforting. She had no idea her dad was that strong, and at least this way no one could see her exposed chest. If she had tried to walk on her own it might have taken her at least 15 minutes and she no longer would have had any nipples, as she was pretty sure they would have frozen off from the cold.

One of the nice things about living up in the mountains was there was hardly anyone in the waiting rooms. Instead of plopping her in a chair, Trevor sat down and kept her in his lap saying it would be easier this way to get her back up again. She found it odd at first being 18 and bare-chested (not like she really had much to expose). It looked like they were about to take one of those awkward family re-enactment photos. She remembered climbing up in his lap like this a lot when she was little. She was really going to miss him when she was gone she thought resting her head against his shoulder.

The minutes slowly ticked by, but the next thing she knew they were walking again. She realized she must have fallen asleep. She could vaguely recall her mom talking to someone before she felt a hospital blanket get draped over her shoulders. She was so cold she had gladly accepted it even though it stung whenever the material rubbed against the sore. They all walked into an examination room and Trevor set her down on the table. Becca shivered missing her dad’s warm embrace.

“Stick out your arm, honey.” A lady in brightly colored hospital scrubs said. Becca slowly pulled her arm out allowing the lady to scan her chip as they waited for the results. After a light chirp, she announced that Becca was running a temperature of 102.4, and that her white blood cell count was high meaning that she had an infection.

After she left, Becca gently lowered herself down into a lying position cringing and grimacing from pain all the way down. She finally managed to get somewhat comfortable lying on her stomach as they waited for another unknown period of time until the Dr. arrived. When she came in, she lifted the blanket off Becca’s back and after looking at it for less than five seconds announced she would be admitting her into the hospital. Becca grumbled a bit under her breath while the Dr. lectured her the entire way into admitting about how her carelessness in keeping the area clean resulted in the infection. Her mom was going to have a field day with her when they got back home. She had been too embarrassed about asking for help washing her back, and they hadn’t been getting along for a while. How was she supposed to ask for help with something like that when at the time she couldn’t sit in her mothers presence for more than a few minutes? Sure, it was better now, but for how much longer? This was definitely going to open up a whole can of worms.

“We’re going to X-ray the area just to make sure.” The Dr. mentioned in passing while the X-ray tech wheeled her away. What was the lecture for if she wasn’t even sure? It wasn’t like there was a giant chunk of dirt in it or something. How did she know she wasn’t washing it properly? Perhaps because it had been a few days since she had last showered and there was enough grease in her hair to fry bacon. The water touching her skin had just hurt too much. She wasn’t that lazy. Usually.

After a few agonizing minutes of rolling from side to side so they could get pictures of different angles, she was wheeled up into a room. She had expected to get jumped about her hygiene, but it had been a surprising day.

“I should have helped you.” Heather said to Becca’s surprise. Wait? Where was the lecture? The nagging? “I was so wrapped up with Brian, and then there was his funeral and everything, I never noticed you were having trouble taking care of yourself.” Becca just stared blankly at her before glancing over at Trevor who appeared equally as shocked.

“I never asked.”Becca replied. Her and her big mouth. Why couldn’t she just take the easy way out and stay quiet? Heather didn’t respond so Becca rested her head on the pillow before drifting back into another light and restless sleep.

Becca dreamed about people dying. She dreamed she had walked into a morgue only to discover hundreds of body bags just lying around on the floor. “I need you, Becca.” A voice said. She spun around to find Brian standing in the corner with a deeply panicked expression all over his face. “What have I done?” He whispered. “Please, help me. They’re going to get me.”

“Who is going to get you?” Becca asked before Brian began backing up with until his back was completely against the wall. The sounds of unzipping bags caused Becca to turn just in time to see hundreds of rotting bodies covered in all different kinds of injuries begin to rise out of the bags.

“You killed us! You did this to us!” They said in unison in deep raspy voices as they all walked passed Becca to get to Brian.

“No, it wasn’t his fault!” Becca yelled. “Please don’t hurt him!” They kept on slowly marching forward as Brian stayed still with his back to the wall completely surrounded. “Run, Brian!” She shouted, but it was too late. She had to turn her head away as his screams filled the echoing basement as she saw the shadows on the wall of him getting torn apart limp from limp. “BRIAN!”

“Becca, honey, wake up.” Trevor whispered lightly in her ear putting a hand to her shoulder as she jolted awake. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He apologized.

Becca looked around the room trying to get her bearings. A different person than before stood in a lab coat beside her bedside. She completely zoned out as her parents talked to the Dr. in her place as her thoughts were lost in her dream. She’d help him! She had too! She didn’t come back down to earth until she heard the word, “surgery”.

“Huh, what?” Becca said looking from the Dr. to her parents.

“I was just telling your parents we need to take you back to surgery.” He said. Becca’s eyes went wide. Surgery? Why? Wasn’t it just infected because she didn’t keep the wound clean? “According to the X-ray it looks like we missed a small piece of the bullet that broke off from the main chunk. It appears as though that’s what’s causing the infection. Once we get it out we can begin treating you with a round of antibiotics and you should be good to go. If everything goes as planned you should be able to go home tomorrow.”

Becca breathed a sigh of relief. So it wasn’t her fault the wound had gotten infected after all. She really dodged a bullet there so to speak. Once she was put back into virtual reality she’d message Brian and let him know what was happening. Hopefully he’d understand she’d need more time.

“We’ll be wheeling her into the operating room soon. A nurse will be with you shortly to put you in virtual reality when you get there.” He instructed. Becca nodded her head in understanding.

“Will the same lady be there?” Becca asked.

“What lady?”

“The one that greets people in virtual reality and sits with the patients.” Becca explained. “To keep people from thinking they’re dead.”

“Oh, I didn’t know the hospital employed anyone like that. About time I’d say. Some old lady nearly sued the hospital last year. I can’t believe there are still people out there that have never been in virtual reality.” Becca flashed her mom a smile, who pretended to be interested in her fingernails in return. Becca never quite understood her mom’s avoidance of virtual reality. Heather had always said it would rot your brain and that it was bad to get hooked on something that wasn’t real, but almost everything now used virtual reality. Schools, and work used virtual reality in place of commuting and even hospitals heavily relied on it. General anesthesia was a thing of the past, and even painkillers were only given when your time was up for the day.

“Are you ready?” A nurse asked once Becca had been wheeled into the operating room.

“Yes.” She responded. She was more than happy to return to that beach away from her pain. She closed her eyes as the helmet was lowered over her head and the countdown began. In just a few more seconds it would all be over. Her stomach did the usual flip and in the blink of an eye she was far away from her pain and problems. “Much better.” She said looking over the horizon of the peaceful little island as she listened to the waves crash along the shore.

“Welcome back.” A familiar voice said. Sasha turned her head to find the same lady as before sitting on the beach by herself.

“Don’t you ever get bored sitting here by yourself?” Sasha asked.

“Sometimes.” The lady admitted. “We don’t get that many patients in here. I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again. What happened?”

“The wound got infected.” Sasha said.

“Oh, you really need to be careful taking care of those kinds of things.” She scolded. Sasha scowled. Why did everyone think it was her fault?

“It got infected because they didn’t remove all the bullet fragments the first time.” Sasha said feeling slightly vindicated seeing the look of surprise on Susan’s face. Ok, so it probably could have gotten infected just as easily from not taking care of it, but she didn’t need to know that was a possibility.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

They sat in silence for a bit as Sasha stretched and sprawled out on her back now that she could pain free and no longer chilled from her fever. It was much more relaxing now that she wasn’t quite as worried about her brother and her injuries. A quick round of antibiotics and she’d be heading home.

“Did you hear about what’s been going on with all those people dying?” Susan asked breaking the comfortable silence. This is so not what Sasha wanted to talk about right now.

“A little bit.” She replied trying to hide her anxiety about the subject.

“So sad. Just goes to show you shouldn’t buy things off the deep web.” Susan said shaking her head back and forth.

“They’re just cheap imitations, untested and unsafe.” Sasha was a little angry at hearing her brothers’ work being called a cheap imitation, but she was right. It was untested and unsafe; it should have never been put on the market to begin with.

“On a lighter note, did you hear someone in our town got selected into the SPP?” Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. Now this subject she could handle.

“Yeah, how did you hear? Word sure travels fast.” Sasha said.

“Apparently it leaked from the dive center. Rumors have been flying left and right ever since they’ve been getting new equipment. Some think it’s that big looking guy that runs the Capsule market, while others think it’s someone that works at the center. Some people believe you have a better chance of getting in if you work there.” Sasha couldn’t help but grin a little. People really thought that would increase their chances?

“Who do you think it is?” Sasha asked trying not to look too suspicious.

“I don’t know. Hey, weren’t you trying to get in?” Susan asked as Sasha froze.

“Uh, yeah, I was trying.” She said.

“Well, maybe you can try again next year, now that this place has been put on their map maybe they’ll look more closely here.” Susan said. Sasha tried her best to keep her mouth shut as she let fistfuls of sand fall between her fingers. No one would ever suspect her. Maybe that’s how she was chosen. Maybe they selected the least likeliest people from the pool knowing people would think they were all the big and strong types. “I’m just kidding.” She said turning her attention to Sasha before leaning in closer and whispering. “I know it was you.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Once Becca was out cold in virtual reality, they rolled her over onto her stomach so they could begin prepping for surgery.

“That’s quite swollen.” One of the surgeons said examining the wound and taking measurements. “We’ll have to lance it first and drain the puss before extracting the bullet fragments with the camera.” His steady gloved hand made precise incisions around the open sore before gently pressing down as the wound oozed and gushed. After they had managed to clean it out they inserted a tiny spider like robot that crawled into the open hole in Becca’s back. It crawled inch by inch scanning for anything that shouldn’t have been there.

“Why didn’t we use the spider drone in the first place?” One of the surgeons asked. He watched the screen as the picture displayed the live video feed coming from the drone.

“Who knows? Dr. Jeffeck needs to retire. He probably thought he pulled out the whole bullet and didn’t even bother checking for fragments.” The other surgeon said. “Man, look at all that debris in there! No wonder it’s this bad. We’re lucky the family doesn’t sure the hospital!”

“Speaking of being sued, she mentioned something to me earlier that got me thinking. Did the hospital hire someone to stay with the patients in virtual reality?”

“No. You think the hospital would pay to have someone sit in virtual reality all day?”

“Oh, that’s weird. The patient said there was someone in there last time that said they worked for the hospital.”

“Probably either one of the nurses got caught slacking off and made up some excuse about sitting on the beach or one of the mental patients was in there at the same time.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, sounds like a nice place to take a lunch break if there were no patients in there. Well, looks like the spider got everything, it’s on its way back up. She should be good to go now after we sow her back up.”


	16. Chapter 16

Christmas morning came sooner than Becca had anticipated. She kind of missed the days where the excitement and anticipation kept her tossing and turning all night. Now that she was older, it seemed like it was just another night, but before she fell asleep, she came up with the idea of how to get to Brian’s and search the place. She’d fake sick and get out of going to her aunts and while her parents were gone, she’d take the hover bike out.

After searching through her stocking full of goodies and snacks, she hobbled out to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee and wait for her parents to get up. She sat on the couch, sipping her cup and staring at all the presents under the tree reminiscing about trying to guess what they were with Brian. His stocking hung on the chimney as a painful reminder of his absence. He’ll be back home soon, she thought with a sigh.

“I miss him too,” Trevor said startling her a bit as she spilled coffee down her arm.

“Just not the same.” Becca agreed.

“Remember when you two used to fight over who got to put the angel on top of the tree?” He asked. Becca chuckled at the memory. One year her father had done it while they were busy arguing and it took them 20 minutes until they noticed. They made him take it back down and each of them got a turn being lifted up on his shoulders to put it on top.

When it came time for opening presents, Becca noticed she got a lot of family activity type stuff. She assumed it was so she could spend more of her time with them instead of in virtual reality during her last week at home.

Two hours before it was time to leave to go to her aunts, Becca put her plan into motion. She began complaining of a stomachache and didn’t move from the couch or open anything she got from Christmas. At the one hour mark she pretended to make a lot of trips to the bathroom, and at 30 minutes till, she covered her mouth with her hand and shuffled as quickly as she could before making fake vomiting noises from the toilet. Not wanting to be trapped in the car with her for two hours, Becca’s parents agreed to let her stay home, on the condition that she promised to stay out of virtual reality. She shuddered at the memory of a previous mishap and quickly agreed. After waiting 20 minutes to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything, Becca made her way to the garage after fetching the keys to the hover bike.

It was near agony lifting her leg over to straddle the seat, but she eventually did it and backed out of the garage. It was more of an uncomfortable ride than painful, but it was still a little fun. If she hadn’t had a mission to accomplish, she would have taken her time or even gone out to the field to do a couple laps. Instead, she made a beeline for Brian’s place in the woods as the chilly afternoon air pushed against her face. When she arrived fifteen minutes later, the place had mostly been cleaned out. Her parents had already been here multiple times and had cleaned the place out several times. Most of Brian’s furniture had already been taken along with his desk. All that was left un touched was his laboratory in the basement. Finally, Brian’s organized chaos approach when it came to his lab had paid off. It was so far beyond overwhelming to their parents that everything had stayed where he left it.

Becca walked slowly amongst the rows of test tubes and computer monitors. She had no idea what she was actually looking for. He was so old fashioned at times; he said everything would be on a thumb drive. He just forgot to mention where that would be. Then again knowing him, he probably forgot where it was too. She lifted up various papers and knocked aside glasses and empty ramen containers. Becca got so frustrated with the mess she eventually just started knocking things onto the floor as a way to signal she had checked there already.

After an hour of searching and coming up with nothing, she sat down on a chair to try to think things through. Brian always loved to hide things when they were little. He’d always make a cache of all his important possessions that he didn’t want anyone else to find. He’d always make it super obvious though in his favorite places. She surveyed the mess once more as she tried her best to figure out where that would be. What was his favorite place down here? As hard as she tried to think, she could only draw a blank. The only thing here he was really attached to was…the fireplace! But would he hide anything up there though? How would he keep it from burning? Only one way to find out.

She slowly ( very very slowly) made her way up the stairs before collapsing from exhaustion on the couch. She was still weaker than she thought she was. She had only meant to close her eyes for a few minutes, but when she opened them back up it was already dark outside! Crap crap crap. Her parents would be back soon and all she had accomplished was trashing the place. After turning on the light, she carefully as she could peeked underneath the brick fireplace. She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for, but as she glanced around something caught her eye. There appeared to be a brick sticking a quarter of an inch past all the others. She grabbed it and jiggled it feeling it slowly moving. She carefully pulled it out like a jenga piece to reveal something taped onto the outside of the brick. There it was! A black thumb drive! Becca quickly pulled her phone out and scanned it until it disappeared from the palm of her hand. I got it! Merry Christmas, Brian. Send.

She sped off on the bike as fast as she could, not even bothering to turn off the lights or lock the door to Brian’s house. Not like anyone would want to steal empty ramen cups anyway. She sped through traffic, running two stops signs on the way. She was cutting it close! She turned the corner and breathed a sigh of relief to see the van still missing. Right when she closed the garage door and cut the engine is when she heard it pull up. She quickly threw her coat and shoes off before hurrying inside and sitting on the couch right as her parents came through the front door.

“Hmm, you’re all sweaty, I hope you’re not running another fever.” Heather said taking a look at Becca’s exhausted face. “You still don’t look good. Maybe you should go lie down for a bit.” Becca couldn’t agree more with that idea. She plopped onto her bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She did it! Now Brian could fix whatever was going on. She pulled out her phone to check her Sphere messenger and saw Brian had replied.

This is it! You’re the best! Becca smiled widely before typing in her own response.

Next time you hide something in your fireplace, remember where you put it!

Finally she could concentrate on the SPP. She hoped she was able to do her part and get Brian out of whatever trouble he was in. She had faith in her brother that he could fix this mess. He was the smartest person she had ever known. Her phone buzzed again.

Sorry! You’re a lifesaver!

There was still something that was bothering her though. Why and where was Brian keeping a fake version of himself? She had checked every nook and cranny of his house today and, thankfully, she didn’t find a stockpile of lifeless Brian dolls lying somewhere in a closet. No amount of therapy would ever make that discovery ok.

Hey, Brian, how did you make a fake body?

Followed a recipe.

There’s a recipe to make a body!?

Water (35 L), Carbon (20 kg), Ammonia (4 L), Lime (1.5 kg), Phosphorous (800 g), Salt (250 g), potassium nitrate(100 g), Sulfur (80 g), Fluorine (7.5 g), Iron (5 g), Silicon (3 g) and fifteen other elements in trace amounts.

So there is… She thought shaking her head. What did he do? Throw them all in the oven until a body formed? Please tell me he’s just joking, she thought.

…What?...

:D

She closed her eyes out of exhaustion. This was the best explanation she was going to get out of him. One day she’d ask him further about it, but for now, it would have to do. Becca was used to him talking way over her head, this was just another one of those times, she thought before giving in to sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

She waited eagerly with her parents in the waiting room until the same guy from before called her back.

“I’m really going to miss you guys!” Becca said hugging them both before following Tom into the back. This was it, the moment she had dreamed about almost her whole life.

“You’re the one?” Tom asked shocked when she appeared. Becca smiled and shrugged as she was led into a room with a giant white pod waiting for her. “Samantha is going to take over from this point, she’ll instruct you about what’s going to happen. I wish you best of luck!” Tom said waving as he was replaced with a girl who looked about 18 or 19 with long brown hair.

“So you’re the one everyone’s been talking about.” Samantha said looking Becca up and down. Becca shrugged again waiting for instructions. “Well, let me explain how this is going to work. You’re going to lay in this pod and it’s going to fully fill with water.”

“What?” Becca asked a bit surprised. “How will I not drown?”

You’ll have an air helmet on.” Samantha continued.

“Why will it fill with water?” Becca asked.

“For two reasons. One: Every ten hours it will drain and pump in fresh water to flush out bodily waste. And two: That’s how the drug will be administered.”

“Wait, what? Bodily waste… You mean I’m going to…” Becca stammered.

“You are going to be in there for two weeks. Did you think we were just going to shove a cork in you?” Samantha asked with a giggle. She hadn’t really been sure what to expect. She knew her metabolism was going to be slowed, so she kind of pictured it like she was going into hibernation like an animal in the winter.

“Sort of.” Becca admitted with a shy embarrassed grin. It’s not like she could find much information about the procedure, so she had let her imagination run its course. She had pictured everything from being frozen to being put in a coma. Becca looked around the room as she took in the various equipment. A white pod a few feet taller than her stood in one corner with various tubes and wires running from all over.

“So are you ready to get started?”

“Yep!” Becca said. She was more than eager to get started. She wondered what she would look like when her year was finished. Would she loose weight? Gain weight? Build muscle? Since this would be a full dive, her brain would be under the impression she was using her actual muscles. What she learned in the SPP would follow her into the real world. With in reason of course; she wouldn’t come out shooting fireballs out of her palm or anything. That would be neat though. She would learn actual combat skills. She knew the motions from gaming, but she lacked the actual strength in her punches and blocks.

“So how does the drug work?” Becca asked. She was curious about it. This was the part that had the least information.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure. They just walked me through the set up; they didn’t explain the chemistry behind it. You probably know more about it than I do. All I know is that it will be in the water you’ll be soaking in.” Samantha explained.

“Am I swallowing it?” Becca asked scrunching up her face in disgust. Would she be drinking the water she was using as a toilet. Gross!

“No, your head will be blocked from the water. I’m guessing it’s absorbed through the skin, since little bits of the drug will be pumped in the tank every few hours.”  
“Oh, I thought I’d be given a shot or I.V or something.” Becca said feeling a bit relieved. Any day she was told she wouldn’t be getting a shot was a good day in her book.

“You must be thinking of Euphoria.” Samantha said. “The problem with that is people are injecting large quantities of it directly into the blood stream. No wonder people are getting hurt and dying. It’s freaking out peoples senses!” Becca nodded her head as her thoughts spun around. Was that what Brian was doing wrong? Would the route people administer it really matter that much? If that was the case she’d have to let him know right away.

“Umm, can I use the bathroom first before we start? I want to, you know, keep the water clean for as long as possible.” Becca said with a nervous laugh. After being directed down the hall and to the left, she made a beeline for the restroom. Becca stopped in the hallway briefly as an advertisement for a pet play simulator caught her attention. Becca looked it up and down cringing at the image of a girl with dog-ears and a tail being walked on a leash. Who in the world would actually play that? “Weirdo’s,” She mumbled underneath her breath, before heading off to her original destination.

Brian, the drug is topical! You mix it with bath water and soak in it! Becca quickly sent the message and made her way back the room. In an attempt to not seem suspicious, she tried to make small talk.

“Did you see that dog game in the hallway? What kind of perverts actually like that sort of thing?” Becca said with a laugh before awkward silence hung in the room as Samantha’s face turned a deep shade of red. Crap. Me and my big mouth. “Umm, I mean, it’s okay if you’re into it i-“

“I’m not!” Samantha said much too quickly to be believable as she shook her outstretched palms back and forth in front of her. Becca raised her eyebrows as Samantha stumbled over her words of explanation. “I-it’s not what you think! I just like being taken care of sometimes.” She mumbled sporting a bright blush.”

“Huh? I thought all the over 18 eroges were just sex games.”

“I turn off the adult content. I, umm, I just like it when he scratches behind my ears.” She said softly. Well this just got uncomfortable fast. Becca tried to flash her best smile as if to say, that’s totally normal and acceptable, but judging by the look on Samantha’s face, it probably came out looking like, You’re a freak.

“Umm, anyway… please get undressed.” Samantha said breaking the awkward tension. Becca blinked in surprise and stared blankly ahead. Is this what playing eroge games do to you? She just told her to take her clothes off. So bold… “You need to take your clothes off.” Samantha repeated again once it was obvious Becca hadn’t quite understood the first time. “Before you get in the pod…” Still nothing. “So the drug can absorb into your skin.” The light finally clicked in Becca’s head as she grimaced.

“Right, sorry. I’ll just…umm… how much are we talking?” Becca asked. Leave it to her to strip naked when she only needed to take a shirt off or something.

“All the way.”

“Right,” Becca said glancing awkwardly around the room for somewhere to get undressed. “Right here right now?” Also leave it to her to strip naked when she was supposed to be behind some kind of screen. Samantha nodded her head waiting. “Do you have t-“

“Yes.”

Becca sighed before she began to awkwardly strip down. She kicked her shoes and socks off before sliding her jeans down. When she was left standing in just her mismatched underwear, she looked up in hope of some sign she could stop there, but Samantha seemed to continue waiting on her so she finished pulling everything down with a slight wince when the cold air hit her now bare butt. She gathered up all her belongings and put them in the outstretched bag Samantha offered.

“So…” Becca said covering herself with her arms. The cold room that raised goose bumps on her skin left her thankful she wasn’t guy, her high beams were awkward enough as it was. Samantha made her put her arms to her sides as she examined Becca up, down, front and back for some reason. Becca stared in the corner of the room trying to avoid any unnecessary eye contact as she bit at the corner of her lip.

“Sorry, I have to make note of any previous injuries. With the big scare lately about people getting hurt and dying in virtual reality, we have to screen everyone receiving the drug. Law suits, you know?” Samantha explained as Becca let out her held breath. Thanks, Brian, I had to get strip searched because of you. As long as she doesn’t tell me to bend over and cough…

“AHH!!” Becca moaned feeling the bandaging on her back get ripped off. A little warning would have been great, she thought as she watched the girl balling up the cotton and tape before tossing it into the trashcan in the corner.

“Sorry!” Samantha said. “No bandages. How’d you get this?” She typed up Becca’s response on the tablet. Becca watched her put the tablet down on the counter before hitting a few buttons in the wall. Her fingers moved much to fast for her to see, so Becca assumed it must have been a password of some kind. A slot in the wall opened up to reveal medical equipment like rubbing alcohol, syringes, and other odds and ends. Samantha pulled out some cotton swabs and disinfectant and proceeded to clean the ports in the back of Becca’s neck.

“You can get in the pod now and I’ll hook you up.” Samantha said. Becca walked over and peered inside the black interior. Everything seemed to be made out of hard plastic including a seat. Behind the chair had various connectors sticking out which looked like they would be plugged into the back of her head. She wasn’t too excited to discover what it would feel like to be connected while she was still awake. “Go ahead and sit down with your head all the way back against the wall.” Samantha instructed.

Once Becca was seated and correctly positioned, a hum filled the once quiet pod and she realized the door was sealing shut. Not only that, but part of the wall in front of her began moving forward until it incased Becca’s head right below her chin, blocking it off from the rest of her body and leaving her head in a separate compartment. She was completely trapped in utter darkness. A brief thought worked its way into her mind about running out of air, but was quickly laid to rest when a fan began blowing fresh air into her face.

What really startled Becca was when she began to hear the loud roar of water pouring in. She quickly retracted her foot when in came into contact with the ice-cold liquid. Why? Why wasn’t it heated?

“I’m going to plug you in now!” Samantha called out. Becca worried briefly about getting shocked as she felt the water rush over her feet. Shouldn’t she have done that before she turned on the water? Becca closed her eyes tight as she waited for the indescribably pain of getting electrocuted, but it never came. All she felt was a slight pressure going up into the back of her head and then in was over. The cold water slowly rising up her legs, she discovered, was about a hundred times worse than getting connected.

“Why is it so cold?” Becca yelled. She shivered as the water level rose past her knees, thighs, and then stomach. She thought she was going to freeze to death when it rose up to her chest. Is this how I’m going to die? Was the SPP nothing more than a lottery to control the population?

“Your body temperature needs to be lowered to 95 degrees before I can start giving you the drug. You’ll feel better soon!” How long had she been sitting in this pod for? One hour? Two hours? “It should warm up in about fifteen more minutes.”

“How long have I been in here?” Becca yelled back.

“About ten minutes!”

She groaned as her teeth chattered and she moved her arms about in the freezing water. The level had now risen all the way to her neck. Just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, warmth started spreading throughout her body. So much better, she thought closing her eyes and breathing a sigh of relief. She could still feel the icy water on the outside of her skin, but somehow her insides felt pleasantly warm. A tingling sensation began running through her nerves and rounds. Her body grew hotter and hotter until it felt more like she was running a high fever. Her face began to sweat in the small, dry compartment as she panted and gasped for air. The fan blowing cold air onto her face felt like a god send. Now she understood the purpose of the cold water. Without it, she might have internally combusted.

“Five more minutes and I’ll send you in!” Samantha shouted.

“Why don’t you just send me in now?” Becca begged.

“The timing has to be just right or you might end up there a week late. Yooouuu’rree boooddyyy haaassss toooooooooo bbeeeeeeee iiiinnnnn syyynnnncccccc wiiiitttthhhhh tttthhhheeee ddddrrruuuuggggg……” Samantha’s voice appeared to have severely slowed down, so much so, Becca could no longer understand a single thing that was said. Her voice seemed to go on and on, until it was nothing more than a constant drawn out moan. She realized the drug had already begun working. Her sense of time had already been altered. If it took her that long to say a single sentence, how long was five minutes going to take?

It seemed as though she sat in the water for hours, with random moans and ramblings taking up chunks of time. She wasn’t sure what was going to kill her first: heat exhaustion, frostbite, or insanity from having to listen to the 20 minute long sentences. Becca closed her eyes and she willed it to be over, only opening them when a new sensation met her skin.

She blinked in surprise and looked around. She was no longer in the pod of water, but in an empty Drs. office. Had she made it? She grabbed a handful of her brown hair and realized she was Sasha now. She glanced around the room noticing a note projected on the opposite wall.

Please have a seat; the Doctor will be with you shortly.

They sure liked to send her to the Doctor, Sasha thought as she hopped up onto the table frowning at the realization that she was still naked. She tried to open up her inventory and realized it was empty. Where were all her weapons and armor? Even her shotgun was gone! She didn’t quite know what was going on, but all she knew was she didn’t like it one bit.


	18. Chapter 18

It was almost seconds that the Doctor came strolling in once Sasha planted her bare butt down on the examination table. She was displeased to find he was a male, and that without her inventory of supplies, there was absolutely nothing to cover herself with. There weren’t even any flimsy hospital gowns in the room. She had checked. Everywhere. She supposed she didn’t really have anything to be embarrassed about; it wasn’t her real body after all, but the chill in the air and the smell of disinfectant made her think twice. Sasha had to check her hair more than once to remember if she was Sasha or Becca, these full dives just felt way too real.

She covered herself with her arms more out of habit than anything. Even on her avatar she kept her boobs small. They were annoying, she thought. They got in the way of combat. One time she did play with her avatars settings a bit in the chest area in her home screen. She had found it amusing that she could grow them at will and was having a bit too much fun with it- that was until she made herself too top heavy and fell face first on the ground. Or she would have anyway if her ginormous boobs hadn’t stopped the fall leaving her a full five inches off the ground. Needless to say she hadn’t really messed with it since.

Looking like a ten-year-old girl had its advantages sometimes. No one ever expects to get their ass kicked by a ten-year-old girl.

“So did everything go okay getting here?” He asked. “Any problems?”

“Apart from almost spontaneously combusting?” Sasha said.

“The first times always the hardest.” He agreed with a nod of his head. Sasha watched him curiously for a moment. Something about him seemed off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It wasn’t until he began talking again did she notice his lips. His lip movements didn’t match the words she was hearing. It was like watching a poorly dubbed Asian movie. It was even stranger when his body left the room for a second, but his voice was still talking right next to her head. She smiled with curiosity and amusement when he returned faster than the words; “I’ll be right back.” took to get to her.

“I don’t think the drug is completely synced yet.” Sasha said.

“I noticed there’s a small lag in your response time, but that’s normal. It will wear off in a little bit. Would you please lay down on the table for me?”

Sasha frowned when the real examination began. He checked her body so thoroughly it made Samanatha’s check up seem like nothing more than a stuck up girls two-second head-to toe scan. He had her roll over onto her stomach next and paid extra attention to the wound on her back.

“Does your back feel better, worse, or the same since coming here?” He asked touching around the edges as she winced. Maybe it was just the disappointment of still having it there when she came here, but it felt a bit worse. She told him this and he nodded his head in understanding. “Please roll onto your back and I’ll turn the table on.” Sasha grimaced and moaned as she slowly rolled over. She hadn’t known this table was anything special. It just seemed like an ordinary examination table to her, but he must have done something she figured, because within minutes, a pleasant warmth was spreading through her back in quick pulses. It was such a relaxing feeling she could almost fall asleep, but within minutes it turned off. Her back felt nice and toasty and…completely healed. She sat up quickly and twisted her body this way and that relieved not to feel skin pulling and tearing anymore.

“Wow!” Was all Sasha could think of to say.

“Better?”

“Much!” She said. If there was a table that could magically heal her, she wondered what other kinds of cool stuff was here.

“Glad to hear. Would you be interested in physical therapy during your time here? We can start you off at ten percent next month and work from there. By the time you leave for your first break, the wound should be completely healed.” He said.

“Really? Yes! That would be great! Why in a month though?”

“Well, you should probably settle down here first. It’s going to be a bit rough and may not be quite what you’re expecting.” He said leaving an ominous feeling in the pit of Sasha’s stomach.

“What do you mean? And what happened to all my stuff?”

“You’ll get it all back after Basic Training.” He explained.

“Basic Training?” Sasha asked with a scowl. “You mean like boot camp?”

“In a way.” He said turning his back to her and digging through a drawer. Sasha chuckled when she saw the rubber gloves in his hands.

“I think I’d be pretty nervous if I were a guy right now.” Sasha said before frowning. “I’m not getting a shot am I? I’ve only ever seen those gloves when I’m about to get a shot or get blood drawn.”

“The thing about Basic Training is that there’s absolutely no contraband allowed.” He explained as he began putting on the first light, blue rubber glove. Was that a yes or a no? He didn’t answer her question.

“Oo…kay…” Sasha said. “Well, all my stuff is gone from my inventory.” She said. “So, what are the gloves for if I’m not getting a shot?”  
“It says here in your file that you like to hide weapons on your person.” He said as the last glove fell into place with a loud snap letting Sasha know a shot was the least of her worries.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sasha quickly got dressed in the white underclothes and navy blue jumpsuit and black boots the doctor provided. She looked more like she was going to go fix a leak somewhere rather than join the virtual police force. She found it a little odd that she had to physically dress herself; something she had never had to do in virtual reality before, but she was too thankful to finally have something to cover up with to give it much thought.

She took off out the door once she was decent before the doctor came back and decided he needed to perform any more cavity searches. Sasha swore he had gone so deep with his fingers; she could taste the rubber gloves. She shuddered and limped out of the office as fast as she could. Why couldn’t they have just scanned her? Why did he have to manually check every crevice?

Of course she wasn’t going to hide anything up there in a full dive! That would have hurt like hell! Wouldn’t he have been able to tell by the way she was walking? As she limped forward and grimaced she assumed she probably looked like she was trying to smuggle something in now. She took back every nice thing she had previously thought about him from fixing her back. How could one doctor’s appointment cause so much joy and sorrow?

“Hello, you must be, Sasha.” A lady said dressed in a grey business suit.

“Yes?” She answered looking up as she shuffled her feet as fast as she could.

“Are you okay? Was that you screaming earlier?” The lady asked looking bit concerned. Sasha mumbled something unintelligible back as her face turned a bright shade of red. That lube had been cold! To make matters worse he was already three knuckles deep by the time the words, “I’m going to count to three first,” made it to her brain thanks to the lag. The woman’s eyes widened in understanding. “Let me guess, new recruit physical?”

“How did you know?” Sasha asked as they slowly walked down the hall together.

“I can see it in your eyes.” She joked.

“I feel so violated.”

“Welcome to the government.”


	19. Chapter 19

Sasha craned her neck this way and that as the woman, who introduced herself as Valerie, took her on a tour. It was a little difficult at first with the lag and the fact that the woman sounded bored, but the two made it work. There were dorm rooms, a mess hall, sickbay, training rooms, classrooms, and a few computers you could use to contact the outside world. “Don’t expect a quick response,” Valerie told her.

“What’s in there?” Sasha asked motioning towards two large double doors at the end of the mess hall. With the wave of her hand, Valerie motioned for her to follow as the two ventured into what Sasha assumed to be the kitchen. It wasn’t like any kitchen Sasha had ever seen before. Normally kitchens stocked silverware, a few pots, and capsules. She had never seen so many different things before. There were boxes and bags filled with strange powders, metal cans stacked on top of each other filled shelves, and the eating utensils were made for giants. “What kind of spoon is this?” she asked. It was huge! How was she supposed to fit that in her mouth?

“It’s a ladle.” Valerie explained as Sasha opened drawer after drawer examining the strange contents. There were some kind of flat squares with handles, knives the length of her arm, and other assortment of items just as strange as the next. Valerie seemed rather amused at Sasha’s curiosity, so instead of pulling her along, she stood back and observed the girl rampaging through the kitchen like the child she looked like.

“Ever seen one of these?” Valerie asked pointing to a closed door. Sasha pulled the metal handle open and walked into what she thought was a storage room. It was certainly like no storage room she had ever been in. She shivered when an icy cold blast took her by surprise and it reminded her of being nearly frozen to death in the pod. Sasha quickly decided this was her least favorite room, but her cat like curiosity propelled her forward anyway.

Plastic bags and plastic containers lined the shelving inside. Using her palm to brush away the thin coating of ice, she cleared the words on the bag in order to see its contents. Peas? And the bag next to it contained corn. Why was there food sitting in such a cold room? She found it odd that she had yet to see any capsules of any kind.

The strangest thing of all had to be the large pink object in the back hanging from the ceiling by a giant metal hook. Sasha slowly approached before sticking out her arm and lightly touching the hard frozen item. What was it? It was so big. She walked around to the other side and jumped back in surprise when she saw the mystery item had a face. A snout to be more precise. There was an entire dead pig hanging from the ceiling and she had just touched it with her bare hands.

When she turned to leave she noticed the closed steel door blocking her exit. For a split second, Sasha feared she had been locked in, left to freeze to death alone. Would they hang her dead body by a hook in this strange room as well? When she pushed it, she was relieved to find it opened as Sasha quickly and gladly exited.

“Why are there dead animals in there?” Sasha asked.

“To eat of course.” Valerie said taking in Sasha’s confused expression with amusement. The new recruits were always so clueless.

“I don’t get it. Where’s all the capsules?”

“No capsules here. We, or you guys, will cook everything.” Valerie explained. “Trust me, it tastes better anyway.”

“Cook?” What was going on? First the manual exam and now this? This wasn’t high tech! This was primitive!

“They’ll explain everything in the orientation.”

While Valerie walked her through the vast campus to the auditorium, Sasha’s head spun. Her? Cook? She could barely boil capsules without setting the house a blaze! Something else was nagging at her though so she decided to speak up.

“I thought this was virtual reality. Why would we cook if we don’t need to eat?” she asked almost jogging in order to keep stride.

“It’s a little different here. This isn’t your typical virtual reality dive. Instead of your consciousness projecting into your avatar, your body is now completely synced. Whatever your body would need to survive, so will your avatar.” Valerie explained.

“But I thought they were putting nutrients in the water and stuff.”

“They are, but because this is so immersive, your mind believes this is your physical body. Everything you do as a person, you’ll do as an avatar here: eat, sleep, etc. And, well, we may have digitally tweaked a few things here and there to make it more real.” Valerie added at the end dismissively.

“What? What did you change!?” Sasha asked. She didn’t really like the sound of being digitally altered.

“Like you already noticed, your inventory is missing. You can no longer equip and un-equip items. Your messenger has been disabled, except in the event a high-ranking official wishes to reach you. Basically, you can receive, but not send. You also need to stay in designated zones at all times. Sundays are free days and you may leave campus, but you need to stay within the city limits. Everyone in this city is under the drugs influence. It would obviously cause a commotion if you were to mix with the general public.”

“Why? What would happen?” Sasha asked. Would people try to rob her or something? Hold her at gunpoint to try and get some?  
“It’s more for their safety than yours. We didn’t use to have this rule, but a few cadets thought it would be funny to play a few pranks, and, well, some people didn’t take too kindly to it.” Valerie explained. Sasha had no idea what she was talking about. What kind of pranks?

“Did the lag freak people out or something?”

“Lag? There’s no lag, here I’ll show you what I mean.” Valerie said.

Sasha followed along in silence, as she was lead around a few corridors and out a side glass door. They stepped out into a large patio area with metal picnic benches surrounded by flowers and plants of all kinds. It was certainly relaxing and very pretty. Sasha could even smell them from where she stood as she breathed deeply from her nose. Still, she wasn’t quite certain why Valerie had taken her here.

“It’s nice.” Sasha said after glancing around. What exactly was she supposed to have understood by coming here? She stood awkwardly in place waiting for something to be revealed to her.

“Look to your right.” Valerie said pointing towards a palm tree. Sasha looked around in the general area still not understanding until she walked closer and noticed a hummingbird. It seemed to be floating mid-air, unmoving until 20 seconds later, it very slowly batted its wings. Sasha stared at it in stunned silence. “A hummingbird flaps its wings 50 times per second. This is the best representation of how fast you’re moving right now. In the time it takes to blink, a room could be turned upside down. Items stolen right from under peoples noses, you get the idea.”

“The lag was starting to take effect before I was sent here. The drug affects your real body, so can you move this fast in reality?” Sasha couldn’t help but ask.

“No, it only speeds up your mind. You would go crazy if you tried to move in the real world. Imagine only being able to take a single step per hour. The production of this drug is banned not because of money or monopolization, but because of the risks. There’s a pretty dark backstory from its trial stages.” Valerie said.

Sasha wanted to ask what it was, but she was distracted when her attention was shifted to the pond in the center of the courtroom. “Grab a hand full of water and throw it in the air.” Valerie instructed. Sasha was immediately in awe. Hundreds of droplets of water hung suspended in the air. She guided them along with her fingers and palm as it very slowly drifted back down into the pond. She did it again and again until Valerie had to drag her back inside, but not before being instructed to bring in a handful of water with her. When Sasha threw it in the air this time, it immediately fell to the ground with a splat.

“The campus and town is programmed to keep up with us. We call that area the Slow Room. We use it to show how time is altered here compared in the rest of the Sphere.” Valerie explained as they walked by and continued the tour.

There was a sensation Sasha hadn’t expected to feel in virtual reality that suddenly snuck up on her mid-tour. I have to do that here too? Sasha thought with an annoyed sigh. She’d have to ask Valerie to pause the tour for her if they came across a bathroom on the way. She had just gone before being sent in, but it was like she said, time worked differently here. She guessed this is what she gets for playing in the water. This was an entirely new situation to her. She’d never had to pee in virtual reality before, although this was also her first full dive. Was this normal for full dives or was this something they had tweaked to make it more realistic? She was fine for now though, just a sudden realization.

As the tour went on though, Sasha couldn’t help but notice not once did they ever pass by a bathroom. She found it a little odd, but thought nothing of it until the sudden realization turned into a nagging problem. She fidgeted and squirmed through half the tour. Right when she was about to bring it up, Valerie opened and a door and announced that they’d made it to the main auditorium where she should wait until further instruction.

Sasha looked around the room a bit surprised. The room held scattered incoming cadets, but the strange part was they all seemed to be moving at different speeds. Some people were already in perfect synchronization, while others were so much slower, Sasha could probably head back to the kitchen, make herself a sandwich and return by the time they could complete a single sentence.

“Sending people here isn’t an exact science yet.” Valerie said as Sasha nodded her head in understanding. Communicating was going to be difficult until everyone was on the same wave length. While there was still a slight lag between herself and her tour guide, it had greatly improved over the two hour hike across the grounds.

“Hey, where’s the ba-“ Sasha started to ask, but stopped mid sentence when she realized Valerie had already left and closed the door behind her. Great. She’d just have to hold it until someone could tell her.

“Hey, you made it.” Sasha heard from behind her. She smiled widely at the familiar sight of green hair. At least now she didn’t have to stand awkwardly by herself. She could stand awkwardly next to someone else.

“How’d getting sent here go?” Sasha asked with a grin.

“Fine?” Crystal said confusion written across her face. Sasha’s smile fell. How’d she always end up with the short end of the stick in these kinds of situations? “Did something happen?”

“You mean you didn’t almost freeze to death and then spontaneously combust?” Sasha asked. Why would they do that to her and not Crystal as well? Didn’t they have to lower her body temperature too?

“That was terrible.” A new voice said joining them. Arnold-Anthony approached flicking his blonde hair out of his eyes with a twist of his head. “I thought my balls were going to recede back inside of me.” He said with a shudder.

“There’s a mental picture I needed.” Crystal said sarcastically.

“Pretty sure I’m sterile now.” Another guy said joining their circle. “Poor little guys.” He said giving his front a pat.

“If that wasn’t bad enough, nothing says welcome like a finger up the ass.” Sasha said joining in.

“Umm…” All three said giving her strange looks.

“You mean you guys didn’t get probed?” She asked as they all grimaced and shook their heads. “Son of a bitch.”

“You shouldn’t have hid so many weapons during the testing phase.” Crystal said with a sympathetic grimace. “I got the contraband talk, but I didn’t get the finger wave.” Sasha let out a string of profanities.

The group talked for a bit comparing experiences of being sent here, while Crystal had suddenly gone oddly quiet seemingly lost in thought. Sasha tried to ask what was wrong, but Crystal merely waved it off and replied that it was nothing. She seemed to mostly keep to herself while they discussed what their real life was like until Sasha recounted her experience with the laser raptors with penis vision. While Arnold-Anthony and the guy, who had introduced himself as David, laughed Crystal finally spoke up.

“That was really dumb of you, you know?” She said startling the group.

“I-I guess.” Sasha said a bit taken a back by her friends’ sudden outburst.

“You can’t just trust someone you’ve never met to put you into a un-approved and un-tested mod. What if he sent you into some kind of black market game?”

“Or worse, one with ponies.” David said as Arnold-Anthony snorted in laughter.

“He wouldn’t have done that.” Sasha mumbled ignoring David’s comment.

“What makes you so sure? You had just met him! You’re too trusting.” Crystal said.

“You sound just like my brother.” Sasha grumbled.

“So, wait, other than when they implanted you, this is your first full dive?” David asked. Sasha nodded her head. “Wow, so how are you liking it?”

“Other than the physical exam…” Sasha grumbled, “It’s cool. I have to check if I’m me, or my avatar just to make sure. It feels so real!” She exclaimed dancing in place.

“You okay?” Crystal asked. “You look like a little kid that has to- oh.”

“No one said anything about having to pee in virtual reality.” Sasha whispered with a grimace. “Anyone know where the bathrooms are around here?”

“There aren’t any.” David said with a smirk elbowing Arnold-Anthony lightly in the ribs.

“What do you mean there aren’t any?” Sasha asked worried. Did they lock all the cadets in here? She couldn’t hold it forever…

“It’s virtual reality, there’s no bodily fluid in virtual reality.” David continued.

“But I kinda have too…” She said trailing off.

“I guess you wouldn’t know since this is your first full dive after all” Arnold-Anthony said joining in.

“Know what?” Sasha asked. What was she supposed to do if there were no bathrooms? Did something go wrong in the process getting here? Was she not supposed to have to pee? What if she was the only one who had bodily functions here?

“Your avatar’s linked. It’s your real body that has to go, not your avatar.” David said watching with amusement as Sasha tried to process it. “You just go. Nothing’s going to come out. Like I said, there’s no bodily fluid in virtual reality. Obviously you wouldn’t in a regular full dive, but our bodies are in tanks of water for a reason.”

Sasha thought about it feeling a bit puzzled. It made sense in a way if her body and avatar were now connected.

“See, watch I’ll go first.” Arnold- Anthony said closing his eyes as his face relaxed for a few seconds as he let out a small breath of air. “See? Nothing came out.”

“Oh ok.” She said now more convinced and as she closed her eyes and relaxed.

“No, Sasha, don’t!” Crystal yelled, but it was already too late. Sasha’s eyes sprung open in a panic as she felt moisture spreading down her pant leg.

“You’re right, she is too trusting. Bathrooms down the hall to your right.” David said with a smirk patting a stunned Sasha on the shoulder before the two men took off snickering. “I can’t believe she fell for that.” Was heard as he turned down the hall and left.

“Wha?” Sasha mumbled too stunned to stop the flow as it continued down her legs and into her socks before finally stopping.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“What did I just get done telling you?” Crystal said sighing as she leaned against the closed bathroom stall.

“W-why..didn’t…you say any-anything?” Sasha managed to choke out. She sat on the closed toilet seat lid trying to come to terms with what had just happened. How could she have made such an idiot of herself on her very first day?

“I didn’t think you would actually fall for it.” Crystal admitted cringing at the choking sounds coming from the closed door behind her. “Look, I’m sorry, don’t cry.”

“I’m not!” Sasha lied, her voice catching in a high-pitched squeal at the end. How could she let this happen? How could she sit here and cry like a weakling? She wasn’t Becca now; she was Sasha! Sasha was supposed to be tough, strong, and didn’t take crap from anyone! Sasha wasn’t supposed to cry in locked bathroom stalls with wet pants. Except here she was sobbing uncontrollably like the little girl she looked like. She was being so very…Becca right now.

She heard Crystal sigh and the sound of leaving footsteps echoed as she exited the bathroom. Great, now her only friend had left her. What was she supposed to do? This jumpsuit was the only thing she had to wear now that her inventory was empty. She supposed she could just hide in here until it dried, but she cringed at the thought of wearing it that long. And what about the smell? Would digital pee smell? She bent over and sniffed. Yes, digital pee still definitely smelled like pee. She held her breath as she heard someone enter the bathroom.

“C’mon, Sasha, let’s go.” Crystal’s voice said.

“Go where?”

“I talked to the lady from earlier, she said there’s some showers and a washing machine in the dorm building. She gave me the key to your room to give to you. She also said since there’s a guy that’s still an hour a way from syncing that you have enough time to get cleaned up before orientation starts.”

“What’s a washing machine?” Sasha asked unlocking the door and stepping out of the stall while wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jumper.

“Beats me.” Crystal said with a shrug. “Shall we go find out?”


	20. Chapter 20

“Nope. Not going to happen.” Sasha said flatly while swiping her arms out in front of her for emphases like an umpire shouting “safe!” It had taken all of five seconds for her mind to go from this is so gross to I can live with this.

“I don’t get it.” Crystal said looking from the small girl in front of her to the shower room.

“There’s no stalls!” Sasha said pointing franticly inside the tiled room. Shower heads hung from various parts of the walls in the open space just a few feet past the locker room where the two girls stood.

“Is that not normal?” Crystal asked.

“Of course that’s not normal! I don’t know where you live, but where I’m from, there’s this thing called privacy.” Sasha said with a scowl.

“Then take one now before anyone else comes.”

“But, but there’s no-“ Sasha mumbled unable to win against that logic.

“Besides, what are you, like, nine or ten? You picked an avatar that hasn’t even gone through puberty.”

“I’m eighteen!”

“You don’t look eighteen.”

“I like to keep my avatar young because people will never take me seriously.” Sasha explained as she set the clean clothes down on the wooden bench along with the bag of toiletries that they had found waiting for her inside her room.

“And people are going to take you seriously as a little kid how?” Crystal asked.

“They’re not, that’s the point. In the back of peoples minds, whether they realize it or not, there’s always a part of them that says, ‘Oh look, a little girl. I should go easy on her.’ “

“Sneaky.”

“Exactly.” Sasha said as she sat on the bench and began unlacing her boots. “Ugh, gross.” She said tipping one of them over as a few drops of pee trickled out. “Turn around.” She said before stripping out of her wet clothes. “What do I do with these?” She asked after covering herself with a white towel she found in one of the lockers.

“The lady said to wash them.” Crystal said when she turned to find Sasha lightly toeing a pile of soiled clothing on the floor. “I’m not touching them.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

“I don’t get it.” Sasha said as the two girls stared at the row of white metallic boxes in the place called the laundry room. Crystal shrugged after looking all over the foreign contraption with the strange knobs. “I wish I had my cell phone so I could do this like any sane person!”

“What do you do where you’re from?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Sasha asked perplexed by her friends’ question. “Like how I clean my clothes in real life?”

“Yeah.”

“I just take a picture of it and store it in my computer before hitting renew.” Sasha said slowly raising her eyebrows at her. Crystal motioned for her to keep going seemingly captivated. “And then I just drag it out of my computer and back into my room. Where in the world are you from? Everyone knows that!” Crystal merely waved the question off as she continued to exam the strange contraption. Sasha just shook her head in wonder. And here she thought she lived in the middle of no-where.

“Aha!” Crystal shouted opening the lid. “A secret compartment!”

“So I just put my clothes in there?”

“I guess.” Crystal said peeking her head inside the metal drum. “I wonder what that weird thing with flaps inside is.”

“Hey, look what I found!” Sasha shouted pointing to a sign taped up on the wall. “A walkthrough! Let’s see… Adjust knob to size of load… separate like color…add soap… press start.” Sasha mumbled reading it off. “Sounds complicated.” Crystal leaned in closer as she examined the various knobs ranging from light, medium and full before turning it to light load.

“Alright, so throw them in and let’s go!” Crystal said.

“What about soap?” Sasha asked. “Will this work?” She held up a mini packaged bar of soap from her shower bag.

“I guess, it didn’t say. Just throw it in or we’re going to be late. For someone who didn’t want to shower there in the first place you sure took your sweet time.” Crystal said.

Sasha merely shrugged. “The water felt good, besides they only have towels here instead of body dryers. Just prolonging the inevitable.” She said dropping her clothes and bar of soap in before pressing start.” They both quietly stared in awe as the tub slowly began filling with water and the cylinder inside began twisting back and forth.

“Huh, so that’s how that works. Anyway let’s get going…Sasha….Sasha!” Crystal said as the younger girl stood completely transfixed. “You are way too easily amused.” She said pulling her away by the arm. “Are you sure you’re eighteen?”

…………………………………………………………………………..

What greeted Sasha in the auditorium made the Fear Simulator look like nothing more than a walk in the park. Mr. Clean stood in his black Newspaper Boy hat glaring daggers down at her when she first made eye contact with him. Clearly her little girl façade had no impact on him whatsoever. Sasha swallowed nervously and slowly backed away, but the large muscular man came barreling towards her before thrusting a wooden pole into her chest.

“Your first assignment: How to mop. Clean this mess up!” He barked at her before jabbing his beefy fingers towards a small puddle of liquid on the floor. “What are you, stupid?” Sasha stood in place mouth agape as he continued his rampage from everything ranging from how she looked to what she had been afraid of during trials. Had he been this much of an ass during the Fear Simulator? Is this what she had to look forward to for the next three years? When he said the words, “Maybe we made a mistake with you,” she almost nearly lost it. Instead she focused her attention on the funny looking stick he had given her. “What kind of person is dumb enough to even fall for something like that?” It really was a strange looking thing. “Am I going to have to babysit you the entire time?” With it’s dirty looking head of hair. “Are you even listening?”

“That’s enough.” A female voice said. Mr. Clean immediately shut up and stood up straighter. Sasha turned her head to face whoever it was that had come to her rescue. She couldn’t believe it. If her mouth wasn’t open before it was now.

“Hello, Sasha. I believe we’ve met before.” The woman said extending her hand.

“S-susan!” Sasha said stunned. What was she doing here? Didn’t she work in the hospital’s virtual reality system?

“It’s Director Aspen here.” She said. “Glad to see you made it.” She nodded towards her.  
“T-thanks.”

“Is there a problem here?” She asked surveying the room.

“No, ma’m! I was just disciplining one of the new recruits! She-“ Mr. Clean said quickly stumbling over his words. Sasha couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person Director Aspen was if her presence made someone like him nervous. She didn’t understand. She had seemed so nice and caring when she had met her in the hospital. Wait, why exactly did she meet her in the hospital?

“What happened here?” The Director asked turning her attention now to Crystal.

“Sasha was targeted for a practical joke earlier based on her newness to full dives. I escorted her out to get cleaned up and we had just returned.” Crystal answered standing tall with hands to her sides.

“I-I was just about to clean it up.” Sasha added gripping the mop tightly.

“As you were then.” The director said. “When you are finished I will begin orientation.” And with that the director left as everyone let out a breath of air. Sasha was too stunned to speak after that. That lady was nothing like the person she had met before. Her mere presence caused everyone to collectively hold their breath. She hadn’t realized how tightly she had been clutching the mop until she let go and a sharp stinging caused her to look down at her bright red palms.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Orientation covered a lot of the same things the tour had. No one was to leave the city limits. Everyone worked rotating shifts between cleaning and cooking when they weren’t in classes or field training. The nice part was at least everyone got their own room. The way things had been going today Sasha half expected to have to share a small space with six other people. Sure the room was small with only a dresser and single twin sized bed, but having that small space to call her own would make all the difference. That was until after orientation…

“We seem to have made a mistake.” The lady handing out room assignments told her with a grimace after having gone back and forth between the list and checking with the higher ups.

“What do you mean?” Crystal asked suspiciously as Sasha stood off to the side listening.

“We’ve…miscounted. There seems to have been a clerical error made and we…well…don’t have a room for you.” The lady admitted. “It appears there was a miscount of the incoming cadets.”

“What do you mean you don’t have a room for me?” Crystal asked dumbfounded.

“I’ve been told by the director to put you in Sasha’s room for the meantime.” Sasha’s head spun at the mention of her name. “We’ll get you an extra pillow and blanket for you.”

“Sharing a room? Have you seen how tiny those rooms are? Where am I supposed to sleep? There’s only one bed!”

“I’m sorry,” She responded with an un-caring shrug. “You two will have to figure out sleeping arrangements in the meantime.” So much for getting her own room. A sudden commotion snapped Sasha from her thoughts.

“Umm…whoever was using the laundry room… you might want to come look at this.” A cadet wearing a green uniform said after running into the room. Sasha and Crystal exchanged worried looks before following them into the laundry room.  
……………………………………………..

The room was completely covered in suds, so much so that you couldn’t even see the floor. The washing machine they had been using was bouncing up and down spitting out foam from its open lid. The girls silently looked upon the mess with sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs only to be worsened by the sounds of the heavy foot falls of Mr. Clean himself.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN HERE?” He yelled.

“My fault.” Sasha squeaked out of her now completely dry mouth.

“Of course it was.” He said with a sigh. “I believe you already know how to use this.” He said once again thrusting the mop in front of her face.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

“We…made…it.” Sasha panted out as they reached the door of their now shared room. “I just want to go to sleep and put this horrible day behind me!”

“Who would have thought washing machines had its own separate kind of soap.” Crystal said plopping down on the bed. “They probably should have specified that in the directions.”

“How was I the only one who got stuck with remedial lessons? No fair.” Sasha pouted eyeing the occupied bed before sighing. “You helped me today. I guess you could take the bed for the first night.”  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Hey, Crystal, you still awake?” Sasha asked from her spot on the floor.

“Hmm?’ Came the half dead response.

“What’s your name?”

“…Crystal…?”

“No, I mean your real name. My name’s Becca Strokes.”

“You know it’s anonymous for a reason, right?”

“Well, I just thought since we’re going to be spending a lot of time together…”

“My name’s Crystal. That’s all you need to know.” Came the curt response. What was with her? She was just trying to be friendly. Why was she so secretive?

“Fine, Crystal, where are you from?” Sasha asked rolling over to face the bed.

“Go to sleep, Becca.”

“I can’t. The grounds too hard.” Sasha complained. “I can’t get comfortable. It’s too cold and-“

“Okay, fine!” Crystal groaned, holding up an end of her blanket and scooting over to the very edge of the bed. “Don’t you dare touch me though. If I wake up and you’re not on your side I’m pushing you over the edge.”

“Thanks.” Sasha said climbing into the tiny offered space on the bed. “So much better.” She said getting comfortable. “So what’s your name?”

“Go to sleep!”


	21. Chapter 21

It wasn’t fair! How did she even end up here? Sasha stifled a yawn and rested her face against her open palm squishing her cheek up towards her eye. Remedial lessons at 5’ o clock in the morning every morning this week. She wouldn’t wish this on anybody. Well, maybe on a certain pair, but certainly not on the general public.

After the events of yesterday, she was exhausted. Her muscles hurt in places she didn’t know could hurt and she wanted nothing more than to get out of this little wooden desk and sprawl out on the floor. She had spent three hours mopping the floor yesterday after the laundry room incident. She hoped she never had to see a mop for as long as she lived. Her stomach growled loudly reminding her she had been forced to work through dinner, resulting in the two of them going to bed hungry.

Sasha had been asleep mere minutes after her head hit the pillow, only to be awoken hours later by her roommate forcefully shoving her out of bed and onto the floor. She had been in a foul mood ever since. So what if she had accidentally tried to cuddle with her in her sleep? She didn’t have to push her out of bed…

Her holographic video –recorded teacher droned on in a monotonous voice lulling her to sleep. This was clearly meant as a punishment and not as an educational lecture. Shouldn’t they have been teaching her things about using this pre-historic technology instead of telling her the dates the Sphere came to be? She already proved she knew all this stuff in the interview! This was all stuff she learned in elementary school! She let out an audible moan, but the pre-recording kept droning on. Sasha was almost completely asleep when the room finally fell silent, but her eyes immediately sprung to life when the last thing she ever wanted to hear was announced.

“Class, it’s time to break out your thinking caps because it’s test time.” Could this get any worse? “An 80% or better is required in order to pass or you’ll have to return tomorrow morning and repeat the lesson.” Yes, yes it could. If she failed this, then her remedial lessons would be extended by a day. She shuddered at the thought of having to sit through this same lecture again. It should be fine though she told herself. It was kids stuff the video had gone over. So what if she was asleep for half the lesson? She doubted she missed anything of importance.

Sasha was instructed to take the test out of her desk. She hadn’t even noticed it was that kind of desk, but sure enough the top opened when she lifted it to reveal a couple pieces of paper and some pens waiting for her. If she knew this was there the whole time she could have doodled or something to pass the time, she thought with a wave of disappointment. Not like she could draw anything better than anorexic people anyway. Sitting atop of the blank pieces of paper sat a key for her to fill in the corresponding bubbles with the correct answers. It was a bit strange having to do this manually and not on a tablet, but she quickly got the hang of it.  
The first ¾’s of the test was simple just as she assumed it would be. She whipped through it like it was nothing. It surprised her when she got to the last page. She scratched her head in confusion. Brain disorders? Had the video gone over this?

“What is the term for the disorder where the consciousness detaches itself from its host when the user goes into virtual reality?” Sasha read aloud. Huh? She must have fallen asleep through this part. She glanced over the choices given. One of the answers seemed to jump out at her, so without anything else to go on but a gut feeling, she marked it down on the answer key. “Oblitussui it is.” She mumbled to herself.

Is there currently a cure for this? No.

What ability of the brain does this effect? Memory.

“Wow, I totally BS’d my way through that.” Sasha said once she finished the last of the out of place questions. Now what was she supposed to do?

“Once you are finished with your test, please put your answers in your desk and it will be graded.” The hologram announced. With a shrug of indifference, Sasha put the answer key back where she found it. As soon as she closed the lid of the desk a bright light shone through the cracks for a couple of seconds surprising her. “Congratulations! You have passed! Please make your way to the mess hall and join your fellow cadets.” She breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up and stretched. She figured she must have gotten enough of the questions right to make up for the ones she just guessed on, which was pretty much the entire back page.

Another audible rumble from her stomach drew her attention away from the odd questions and back on the realization she hadn’t eaten anything since she got here. It sure was strange to feel hungry as Sasha, or well, to feel anything as Sasha.

She made her way out the now empty classroom and towards the mess hall. When she stepped through the door she found a line of cadets towards the front being handed trays full of food. With her mouth watering at the sight, she eagerly jumped in line. She eyed the trays that passed her while resisting the urge to tackle their owners to the ground for it. Just a little longer, she reminded herself. With every step closer towards the kitchen she took, more and more wonderful smells filled her nostrils. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, she was handed a tray. Sasha was tempted to grab handfuls of food and shove it in her mouth right then and there, but common sense won out in the end. After grabbing a plastic cup of coffee from a dispenser off to the side, she took the closest empty seat she could find.

Sasha stared eagerly at her prize. Scrambled eggs, O’Brian’s, bacon and toast. She quickly scooped up a fork full of eggs into her mouth. Her eyes widened in amazement. The tough spongy texture she was accustomed to was nowhere to be found. Instead it was replaced by the soft and chewy balls of yellow and white. And the taste! What was this flavor? Did eggs usually taste this good? She quickly shoveled another forkful in and then another.

“Geez slow down. It’s not going anywhere.” Crystal said setting her tray down across the table from Sasha.

“Bu’ if fo goo’!” Sasha replied with a mouthful of food sending bits of partially chewed egg flying out of her mouth in all directions.

“Didn’t anyone tell you not to talk with your mouth full? What are you, ten?” Crystal asked with a grimace flicking a bit of egg off her uniform.

“Sorry,” Sasha said after swallowing. “It’s so good though!”

“It tastes like eggs.”

“Maybe it doesn’t taste as good to you because you had to make it.” Sasha suggested.

“Hardly. They had me washing dishes the whole time and buttering toast.”

“Still beats remedial lessons.” Sasha grumbled. She’d much rather be washing dishes, whatever that meant, than sitting in that classroom.

After Sasha made quick work of her eggs, she started on the potatoes and then the toast. When she got to the bacon she let out a moan of pleasure. Never had she tasted anything quite like it. Was bacon always this crispy and delicious? She quickly shoved the entire thing in her mouth with a crunch. Whatever happened in the mornings didn’t matter as long as she had bacon to look forward to, she quickly decided. Crystal appeared to be lost in thought, spreading her food around on her tray instead of eating it, but Sasha was too lost in her meal to notice.

“How’s that going anyway?” Crystal asked. “Remedial lessons?”

“It’s very,” Sasha spoke before pausing for a moment to think about it, “remedial. It’s torture! My desk knew when I was falling asleep! My seat zapped me three times! Do you have any idea how unpleasant it is for 100 volts of electricity to shoot up your butt at six in the morning?”

“So does that mean you’d enjoy it at six in the evening?” Crystal asked with a sly grin. Sasha nearly choked on her coffee, but she had to admit she walked into that one. “Sounds like it tracks your heart rate and shocks you when it gets too low.” Crystal explained. Sasha audibly groaned. “Try and drink some caffeine or something before you go in.” Sasha nodded her head in agreement, but wasn’t about to correct her that the reason for her groan was because she finished all her food and was still hungry. She eyed Crystal’s nearly full tray greedily.

“Miss Brindey?” A voice asked. Sasha’s attention withdrew from Crystal’s food to the man pushing a cart of little white paper cups.

“Yes?” Sasha asked.

“Please allow me to scan you for medication verification.” He said as Sasha went ahead and stuck out her arm. Medication? In the Sphere? “You take Zelphitizine? 25 mg, is that correct?” He asked as Sasha nodded.

“Why do I have to take this here?” She asked looking at the little paper cup she was handed that contained the single white tablet.

“We have access to everyone’s health records and dispense their medication appropriately.”

“Is this another trick the brain kind of thing?” She asked. “If it’s not real, can’t I just not take it?” He shook his head and watched her in an intimidating way that said she wasn’t getting out of it. With a sigh she knocked the cup back and let the tablet fall into her mouth before swallowing.

“Thank you.” He said before moving on.

“Is he gone?” Sasha whispered as Crystal nodded her head when his back was turned towards her on the other side of the room. Sasha quickly spit out the pill into a napkin while making weird faces at the unpleasant taste before downing the rest of her coffee.

“You gonna explain that?” Crystal asked.

“My parents think I’m depressed or something since my brother di- moved. They made me go to a psychiatrist who gave me some anti-depressants. I don’t take them though. It’s not like I’m depressed or something.” She said with a shrug.

“Sasha,” Crystal said studying her face. “Zelphitizine isn’t an anti-depressant; it’s an anti-psychotic.”


	22. Chapter 22

Crystal’s words rang in her ears while she lined up with the other cadets outside the locked steel door that was supposed to hold their first lesson of the day. Anti-psychotics? Did that mean her parents thought she was crazy? She already knew the Doctor that prescribed her that medication thought she was crazy, but still. She didn’t think something like that would end up on her record. She had purposely left out the detail that her brother was alive when interviewed by the government doctor to avoid this very predicament! They had specifically stated that people with mental problems couldn’t join. So then why did they allow her to join if they knew she was taking crazy pills? That was the real question. Did they not know what they were for? What if they found out and made her leave?

“You don’t look so good.” Crystal said snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” Sasha asked.

“You’re breathing hard. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Sasha said. Her voice came out just a pitch too high to be believable, and she noticed she had been fidgeting out of agitation the whole time. Her breath, while still quiet, came in faster and harder than normal. Was she seriously about to have a panic attack over this? Sasha didn’t have panic attacks! What the hell? She had to snap out of it, this wasn’t like her!

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Sasha said after a moments pause sounding much more believable. Something’s happening to me. This isn’t right!

A loud buzzing sound filled the hallway they stood waiting in and the large, grey metal door slowly swung in with a heavy groan. The cadets peeked their heads in one by one before slowly filing in. When Sasha finally was able to get a good look at what lay beyond, a wide smile stretched across her face as the worries that had plagued her mind quickly disappeared.

Her eyes shone brightly as she gazed upon the wall of weaponry that hung on display just waiting for her. Rifles, pistols, laser guns, grenades, knives of all shapes and sizes were mounted around the room separated by size and type. One wall displayed energy weapons while the other housed the automatics. Now this was what she had been waiting for! She couldn’t help herself; she just had to hold one in her hands. Sasha had her eye on a particular long double-barreled shotgun, but her heart sunk when she picked it up off the mount. It was nothing but plastic!

“They’re all fake!” She complained putting the faux weaponry back on its stand.

“You think we’re going to let new recruits just grab guns off the wall?” An intimidating voice said behind her. She cringed as she slowly turned around knowing exactly who’d she’d find standing right behind her. At least he wasn’t holding a mop in his hands, she thought. “Sit!” He growled at her. Sasha gulped and quickly made her way to an empty desk.

She had been so mesmerized by the decorations; she hadn’t noticed this was a classroom. At least it was no ordinary classroom. Off to the side of the room was a large locked cage she knew just had to be an armory of some kind. Why they locked the weapons up, she had no idea. They were avatars, it’s not like they could kill anyone!

Gun safety, that’s what the class ended up being about! Gun safety in virtual reality. Sasha just wanted to cry and pull her hair out! Here she was so close she could almost tastes it, and yet here she was stuck in a desk listening to her least favorite person in the entire virtual world handling plastic figures and naming the parts. Who in the world cared? She mumbled something unintellible as she rested her face against her closed fist.

Mr. Clean’s voice droned on and on while Sasha’s eyes grew heavier and heavier. This was so boring, she thought resting her eyelids for a moment. There was a cutesy jingle coming from somewhere in the background. Something about it sounded so familiar. Was someone’s cellphone going off or- Oh! Now she remembered! That was the sound the desk made right before it was about to…uh-oh…zzzaaapppp!

“Ahh!” Sasha shouted hopping up out of her chair as she clutched her sore bottom. Once she recovered from the shock of getting her butt hairs singed off, she looked around to find every eye focused on her. Worse was the look on Mr. Clean’s face. His expression was not of anger, but of mischievous glee. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she’d probably prefer him angry.

“Well, well, well. Look whose the first to discover the H.R.D’s” He said. “This is what happens when someone falls asleep in class. Now tell me, am I boring you, Miss Brindey?” It’s a trap!

“N-no,” Sasha stuttered out nervously. Her hands were trembling as she balled them into sweaty fists by her side.

“Then why were you falling asleep?” Don’t answer him, just stay quiet. “Well?” He said sounding impatient. “I’m waiting.”

“I already know how to fire a gun!” She spat out quickly before she could stop herself.

“Oh? Are my classes too basic for you? Oh! I know! How about you show the class what an excellent marksman you already are?” Sasha remained frozen in place. What was going on? What was he doing? “Everything you see on the wall is what we have in stock. Pick one and I’ll go get it for you.” Sasha’s eyes were immediately drawn to the plastic shotgun from earlier. “Let’s make a deal. If you can hit the target, we’ll stop this boring and basic lesson. We’ll jump right into practical field drills on the firing range.”

“What if she misses?” David asked from the back of the room with a snicker. “I don’t want to suffer if her shot is anything like her IQ.” Anger was quickly replacing the fear from earlier as giggling erupted from the room. Word of her accident had quickly spread it seemed. She gritted her teeth so hard she thought they might chip.

“Hmm, let’s see,” Mr. Clean said. “We already know she can use a mop.”

“She can take over tonight’s custodial shift by herself.” A woman in the front piped up.

“Cleaning the showers by herself it is!” Mr. Clean shouted with glee before finalizing it with a thunderous clap of his large hands. Wait…didn’t she get a say in this? “Pick a weapon, Brindey, we don’t have all day.”

Pick the smallest one. Sasha blinked in confusion as she looked around the room for the speaker, but everyone remained quiet. Pick the smallest one. There it was again! A voice, as if someone was standing besides her whispering in her ear. Crystal? Sasha thought turning on her heels half expecting to see a head of green hair standing beside her, but when she looked, Crystal sat on the opposite side of the room. Sasha shrugged it off and chalked it up to her imagination. The last thing she needed was to be hearing voices on top of everything.

Sasha headed straight for the gun she had set her sights on earlier. She had the most experience with shotguns after all, so it only made sense, or so she convinced herself. She silently held up her choice. Her heart sunk a bit when Mr. Clean smiled a wide toothy grin. Why did she get the feeling this was bad news?

“That’s a man’s gun! Shouldn’t you pick a little pistol instead?” David heckled from the back.

“How did I know you’d go for a shotgun?” Mr. Clean asked ignoring David’s comment as she he reached into his pocket for his keys. Sasha gripped the toy gun nervously in her shaking hands as he opened up the cage and ducked inside. Within seconds he returned with the real thing. It was beautiful, she thought staring in awe of its long freshly polished metal barrel and sleek frame. She gingerly took it from his outstretched hands and-Oh crap! It was heavy! She hadn’t accounted for this thing having weight!  
She looked at the gun in her hands and then back up at him. Should she admit she made a mistake in her selection and choose something lighter? No, she couldn’t do that! Her pride was on the line here; she’d just have to compensate for the weight. The shotgun probably looked almost comical in her tiny arms. It looked almost as big as she was!

“So where’s the target?” Sasha finally asked. With a snap of Mr. Cleans fingers, the room immediately changed before her eyes. No longer were the students in desks, but sitting in the floor in the middle of an indoor gun range. The cadets quickly stood and got out of the way.

“I believe you already know how that works.” He said directing her towards the corner of the room. There the familiar patterns on the floor instructed her to stand in front of the scanner. She gulped knowing what it was about to do. Please, aliens or robbers or something! Anything but- the class collectively let out a howl of laughter letting her know exactly what had happened. Stupid brain scanner! A single orange pony stood smiling menacingly on the other end of the range. “It helps encourage accuracy when the thing the person fears the most is the target.”

The class collectively giggled again remembering her fear test. She let out a sigh and stood facing her target. Sasha held the shotgun up and tried her best to aim, but her trembling arms weren’t used to the weight. No pressure, she thought breathing in and out. The last things she remembered were pulling the trigger, the deafening blast and hurtling backwards towards the ground before blacking out.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………  
Sasha slowly opened her eyes to find herself lying naked on the same exam table that had previously healed her back the day before. Warmth radiated through her extremities from the table underneath her.

“Our first casualty has awoken!” the doctor announced. Sasha slowly sat up once the table clicked off to find Crystal sitting in a chair across from her looking her up and down. Sasha let out an “eep” and tried to cover herself, but the older girl merely rolled her eyes. “You’ll get over it in a week tops.” He said with a chuckle. “There’s always one of you overly modest types.” Sasha winced at being reminded she had to shower in front of everyone. She skipped a shower this morning after chickening out in the locker room full of naked women.

“What happened?” Sasha finally asked.

“You played right into Barkley’s hands.” Crystal said with a wince. “He knew you’d never handled a real weapon before outside a partial dive. You weren’t in the proper stance so the re-coil sent you flying.”

“I take it I didn’t make it?” Sasha asked as disappointment crashed over her like a wave.

“Well, that’s the shocker. You hit the target right between the eyes.”

“Yes!” Sasha said with a fist pump to the air. “Wait, what else happened?”

“When you fell, you sort of managed to shoot yourself in the foot.”

“I shot myself in the foot!?” Sasha asked looking at both her perfectly normal feet. “Did I hit my head too? Why’d I pass out?”

“You fainted at the sight of your own blood.”

Sasha grumbled. “Did I really shoot myself in the foot though? It looks fine to me.” Crystal stood and began pulling a boot covered in blood out of the trashcan before handing it to her. “Woah!” Sasha said staring at the gaping hole through the top. She really did blast a hole in her foot.

“Good thing we have this.” The doctor said patting the table. “It’ll fix any injury you got.”

“Can I have my uniform back, please? It’s a little chilly.” Sasha asked.

“Err, well, it’s in the trash.” Crystal said as she made eye contact with the doctor. “Since we had to throw your boots away, we tossed the uniform away as well since it had blood on it. I’ll get you another one from our room.” Sasha narrowed her eyes suspiciously. That logic made no sense! She hopped off the table and stuck her arm in the trash before retrieving her uniform. Blood covered the bottom left pant cuff, but what caught Sasha’s attention was the giant wet patch down both the inside of the legs. “You may have also wet yourself on the landing.” Crystal finally admitted.

“And your friend still carried you here on her back.” The doctor said with a grin.

“Berkley also told me to tell you when your better, you know what to do.” Crystal said jabbing her thumb in the corner of the room to the awaiting mop.


	23. Chapter 23

“Thank you,” Sasha said softly while Crystal and herself walked side by side down the hallway. She was so embarrassed she could barely get the words to come out. In less than 24 hours Sasha’s confidence had all but vanished, leaving her feeling synonymous with the little girl she resembled.

Something about this entire situation was different. When Becca went into the Sphere it was like she could become someone else, even if it was just an act. Of course she knew Becca was Sasha and vice versa, but it was still nice to pretend. That was the beauty of the Sphere. On the days you can’t even bring yourself to look in the mirror, you could log in and be someone different. In the Sphere, you could be anyone you wanted to be, but in this place something was off. She couldn’t hide behind the mask that was Sasha. How many years had she spent perfecting her tough girl image only to have it shatter in the presence of another avatar?

That’s it! That’s all Barkley was! He was just someone else’s avatar. All she had to do was picture some scrawny 40 – year- old virgin living in his mother’s basement. She smiled as a flicker of hope danced in her eyes.

“What do we have next?” Sasha asked.

“Conditioning, since we missed psychology.”

“What? How long was I out for?”

“About two hours.”

“Oh.” Sasha said trying her best to try and hide the smile that had begun growing across her face.

“What?”

“You carried me over and stayed there for two hours?”

“I-it wasn’t like that.” Crystal grumbled red faced while she tried to play it off. “I was just going to leave you there, but the doctor was on his lunch break.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“…But when he came back he said he didn’t want your dirty clothes on the table. When he tried to undress you, you took a swing at him in your sleep so I had to stay and hold you down.”

“Sure I did.”

“…and Barkley was pissed, so It’s not like I really wanted to go back there anyway.”

“Tsundere.”

“Shut up! Eh? Don’t touch me!” Crystal grumbled staring away.

“Thank you, I mean it.” Sasha whispered clinging on.

“D-don’t mention it. Now can you get your head out of my chest?” Crystal said forcefully pushing her off.

“Not my fault you’re so tall!”

“I’m only 5’5! I’m not tall; you’re just really short! Now c’mon, midget, Barkley’s going to be pissed if we’re late.”

“I’m not a midget!” Sasha complained crossing her arms.

“Fine, would you prefer little girl?” Crystal teased patting her head condescendingly. “Seriously though, what were you thinking back there grabbing a shotgun bigger than you are? Ever heard of recoil?”

“Now I have.” Sasha mumbled. “You want to hear something really weird? I could have sworn I heard a voice telling me to pick something small.”

“That’s the voice of common sense; you should probably listen to it.”

“No, I’m serious! It’s like someone was standing right next to me whispering in my ear.”

“Out loud?” Crystal asked. Her teasing smirk fell into a frown as Sasha nodded her head. “Look, just, do yourself a favor and never mention that again.”

“Why not?” Sasha asked puzzled.

“This place, it…” Crystal sighed trying to find the best way to put this. “Mental illnesses… just don’t talk about it! Hearing voices is never a good thing; they might think the stress is too much for you.”

“It was just my imagination.” Sasha said, but remained quiet the rest of the way there.

That’s right, she thought remembering her mental evaluation. “We can fix the body, but we can’t fix the brain.” Was what they told her. “We only accept candidates of sound mind.” Would they kick her out if they knew she had heard something? It was only one time though! It was as Crystal said, best keep it to herself at this point. It was a good thing she lied and said Brian was dead. But there was still that one question nagging her in the back of her mind. Why did they let her join if they knew she was taking anti-psychotics?

Sasha had to bite down on her fist to keep from letting out an audible groan when the door swung open. Barkley again? How many classes did Mr. Clean teach? It took her a second to realize she was standing outside the very same door they had had gun safety in. This must be his classroom, she thought.

“Brindey!” He shouted when he made eye contact with her. She jumped slightly and took a step back. “Where’s your mop?” He barked at her. She cringed as she realized she had forgotten it.

“In the infirmary.”

“Get it and clean this mess up!” Sasha immediately turned tail and made a beeline straight back from where she came. “Faster! We’re waiting on you!” Sasha quickened her pace as she chanted in her head, 40-year-old virgin 40-year-old-virgin.

Once she was done cleaning up another puddle of her bodily fluid, she stood in place feeling awkward as she looked for somewhere to put the mop. When no one told her what she was supposed to do, she leaned it against a corner of the room and headed to join the other cadets.

“Nu-uh.” Said Barkley. Sasha looked up at him unsure of what she was supposed to do. “That is your mop now; I think it’s fair to say you’ve claimed it as your own. Keep it with you at all times because I have a feeling you’ll be using it again real soon. “ Sasha stood in place feeling dumbfounded. Did he really expect her to carry a mop with her everywhere she went? The look on his face answered her question so with an inaudible sigh; she dragged it with her to stand in line with the other cadets.

“What are you doing? Put it in your inventory!” He said in a tone that asked, Are you stupid? She shrunk back feeling every bit as small as she looked and gripped the mop tightly as if it would protect her from anything he could dish out. She opened up her menu and tried to put it away, but an error message displayed saying her inventory had been locked.

“I-I can’t!” she stuttered. Her knees buckled as her body trembled under his glare.

“What do you mean you can’t?” He asked getting in her face. Sasha gulped as he bent down to stare into her eyes. “Everyone knows how to put something in their inventory! How did you even get accepted here? I guess we’re just taking anybody these days!” Hot moisture burned behind her eyes as she tried her best to fight the tears that were forming. Her chest tightened to the point that every intake of air caused her pain. Her breathing became heavier and quicker with every breath. Not now, please not now! “Go home, you don’t belong here.” He whispered so only she could hear. She stood in place wide-eyed as blood rushed into her face. She wasn’t sure if her body wanted to run away or smack him upside the head with her pee and blood soaked mop.

“Our inventories are locked, sir.” Crystal’s voice spoke up from somewhere down the line.

“Was I talking to you?” Barkly shouted with his head now turned towards her. Crystal stood up straight with a blank expression on her face seemingly un-phased as he approached her. “What’s your name?”

“Crystal, sir.”

“No, your last name!”

“I don’t have one, sir”

“What do you mean you don’t have one?” He asked turning on his Sphere Vision to see her stats. “Why didn’t you give your avatar a last name?”

“I don’t know, I just didn’t I guess.” Crystal said calmly.

“Well, what’s your real last name?”

“I don’t know, sir”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Show me your chip!”

“I don’t have one.”

“Give me your arm!” Barkley shouted grabbed Crystal’s wrist and sliding his palm over the area that should have housed her chip. “What the hell?” He grabbed her other wrist and repeated the process. “You’re a fake! Wait until the directo-“

“The director invited me here.” Crystal said. “And I’m not a fake!” She said clearly taking offense to that.

A light seemed to click on in Barkley’s eyes as he let go of her wrists. “So you’re the special exception I heard about. You have five seconds to give yourself a last name or I’m calling you Loud Mouth for the rest of your time here.”

“Uhh, I’ve never really thought abo-“

“Five, four, three…”

“Kisara!” Crystal blurted out.

“Alright, Loud Mouth, what were you saying about the inventory?” He said ignoring her. Crystal’s eye twitched in annoyance. “You’re right, definitely not a fake.” He said more to himself. “Interesting.”

“Sasha can’t put the mop away because our inventories are locked for incoming cadets.” Crystal explained.

“Why didn’t you just say so?” He said staring back at Sasha, who had been quietly watching the scene unfold with great interest. Barkly made a black marker appear in his hands, before tossing it to Sasha. “It’s special ink. Write your name on the mop and it will over ride the rule.” She quickly did as she was told and soon the mop vanished out of her hands and into her inventory. When Barkley’s head was turned she quickly pocketed the marker. Tonight, when she free time, she was writing her name on a change of clothes and keeping them with her.

“Everyone take your boots off and put them over in the corner.” He ordered. Sasha inwardly moaned. It had taken her so long to lace them up and now she had to take them off not more than 20 minutes later. She bent over and unlaced the first one before hoisting her leg up into her hands as she tried to yank it off while hopping up and down on one foot. When she managed break free from the confines of the heavy boot she fell backwards and landed on her butt. What should have been a painful landing was somehow broken by something oddly soft and foamy.

Sasha looked down to see what she had landed on. She was surprised to see the once concrete floors had been replaced with soft white padding. She had been so pre-occupied with her boot she hadn’t noticed the change in scenery. The gun range was gone, and in its place all the cadets stood in a white padded room. Everything was cushioned from the floors to the ceiling; even the walls. All that was missing were the straight jackets.

“I’ve been told by the director to go easy on you since it’s your first day and all.” Barkley said rolling his eyes. “So all you have to do is get from one side of the room to the other and back. I don’t care how you do it: walk, run, crawl or skip. Just touch the other side of the wall, come back and then you’re free until after lunch.”

Sasha’s heart skipped a beat. Free time? There was still two hours left until lunch! She had expected conditioning to be hell, especially with Barkley leading the class, so why did this seem so easy? There had to be a catch.

“This is a gravitational belt.” Barkley said interrupting her train of thought as he held up a piece of black cloth. “You’ll each be wearing one during every work out. Cinch it around your waist and a menu will pop up with a number. Everyone sets their belts to 1.35 unless I say otherwise. Go get them!” He said pointing to a rack that appeared.

Sasha picked one up and held it in her hand. The material was lightweight and the clip was similar in design to a car seat belt. Once she had it fastened around her waist she touched the button in the middle, which glowed a bright blue in response. Arrows on the screen directed her to slide her fingers in a counter clockwise motion in order to increase the resistance. The resistance of what, she wasn’t quite sure. Was the belt supposed to get heavier or something?

A sudden yelp stole her attention and directed it to the middle of the room. One of the guys who hung out with David, Andrew she thought was his name, was lying flat on the ground pinned by an invisible force. He screamed in such a way all the hairs on Sasha’s neck stood straight up. She had never witnessed something quite like it before, and judging by the reactions of everyone else, neither had they. Everyone stood in place, as Andrew lay motionless from the neck down. All except for his head, which thrashed from side to side as he screamed for help.

“IT HURTS!” He screamed as if every bone is his body was breaking. Judging by the way his limbs were caving in, they were. The look in his eyes gave Sasha the creeps, but she stood still completely transfixed and watched with horror as he coughed up blood.

“Damn it! I told you not to raise it higher than 1.05!” Barkley yelled over the boys’ screams. “Nobody get close to him or you’ll be in the same boat!” He thrust his arm towards the clip on the boys’ waist, but when he was just a mere two inches from the device, his hand stopped moving. His eyes watered as his face turned a dark maroon and his face contorted from pain, but with a grunt he pushed forward despite the crack crack crack of his fingers breaking one by one. Ever so slowly his hand crept forward until it finally made contact, before his arm fell limp to the ground.

“Somebody get the doctor.” He said quietly. Andrew lay still spread-eagled, but no longer screaming. She wasn’t even sure if he was still breathing. Blood poured from his open mouth and dripped down his nose. Everyone remained frozen in place while Barkley panted from exhaustion.

Sasha was relieved when the doctor came and announced he was still alive. He ordered a few cadets to carry Andrew to his office and he’d be good as new. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they remembered where they were. It was virtual reality, it’s not like they could die, right?

“You should come too.” The Dr. told Barkley after seeing his hand hanging awkwardly by his side. Barkley tried to fight it, but the Doctor wasn’t having any of it. Sasha could already see the swelling in his wrist and hand. She was also pretty sure fingers weren’t supposed to bend that way. What the hell were these things?

“The belts can manipulate the gravitational force around you from your neck down. I better not see a single one you turn them on ‘cause I sure as hell am not gonna stick my last good hand in and save your ass.” Barkley said as a parting shot before he left. Sasha gulped nervously as she stood in place and watched them leave out of sight. Just how high did Andrew set his too?

“That guy seriously needs to get laid.” David said breaking the silence once they were out of earshot. Sasha forced herself to keep a straight face-even if she did find it kind of funny. She wasn’t going to give that dick the satisfaction of making her laugh.

“I don’t think I want to touch this thing after seeing what happened to Andrew.” One girl said. The group quickly agreed and stood talking amongst themselves.

“So why did you want to join?” A girl by the name of Jasmine asked. Everything about her reminded Sasha of the Disney princess of the same name. From the way she looked to the way she moved. Even the smallest of movements seemed dignified and graceful and could be easily set to music.

“The money mostly.” David replied with a shrug. Sasha frowned as they went around the room discussing why they were here. After hearing their answers, she couldn’t help but wonder how these people got in. They were all the same; if it wasn’t the money they were after it was about power and glory.

“What about you?” Someone asked. “I’m not really sure what your name is. I’ve only heard you get called Brindey.”

“It’s Sasha,” she replied. “At first I just wanted to help keep the Sphere safe, but now I’m here for answers.”

David rolled his eyes. “How noble of you.” He said with a snort. Sasha clenched her fists together as she tried to ignore him as best she could.

“Sorry if I sound like I’m prying, but what was up with your fear test? Ponies?” Jasmine asked. Sasha really didn’t want to talk about, but the five eager faces before her seemed to beg for answers.

“The first time I ever logged into the Sphere, back before the home consoles came out, an employee trapped me inside a My Little Pony game and made the NPC’s start killing each other in front of me.” She explained. Her heart was beginning to race inside her chest and her palms were wet with moisture. After all these years it was still difficult to talk about. She felt on the verge of an anxiety attack every time she was forced to relive it. The thing about P.T.S.D. is it doesn’t let you forget. Ever. Whether it was seeing some kid’s stuffed doll, or having to talk about it, it almost always came with a fresh wave of nightmares leaving her feeling just as terrified as she was when she was five. Tonight would probably be no exception. She understood it was a silly thing to be afraid of, but no matter how much she told herself it was stupid, the fear and panic were real.  
“So what? You saw a few characters die when you were little and now you’re afraid of ponies? Get over it.” David said. Sasha really was about to pound his face in. Her little body trembled with anger as she clenched her fists and began pulling back, but a hand on her shoulder told her to cool it. She looked up to see Crystal shaking her head forcing her to try and calm down.

“What did you say about wanting answers?” Jasmine asked trying to break up the now awkward tension. Sasha paused as she tried to think of what she was going to say. She couldn’t tell them too much after all.

“Someone close to me is going through a lot of trouble by faking their death and I want to know why. Everyone but me believes they are dead. They even made a fake body and everything.”

“How do you make a fake body? What makes you so sure they’re alive?” David asked.

“Because we still talk through messages. Here, I’ll show you. They even sent me the recipe!” Sasha explained opening her messenger and projecting it out for everyone to see. “Read the conversation we had. I keep asking him if he’s okay over and over and see, he finally responded and told me he’s just laying low.” She swiped through so everyone could read them and pointed out the part about how to make a body. “See, he’s definitely alive!”

“Sasha,” Jasmine said smiling sympathetically. “You’re saying you saw him die, and that other people buried his body.”

“Yeah, but it was a fake. See, in the message he said-“

“Sasha, those messages all have the same IP address.”

“Yeah? So what? He probably just-“

“Sasha, please just stop. I can tell this person was very dear to you, but listen to yourself. These messages you showed us… you sent them to yourself.”


	24. Chapter 24

Sasha remained quiet and distant all through out the rest of the class. Even during lunch she sat by herself lost in the world of her own thoughts. She moved the mashed potatoes around her plate with the fork instead of eating them. Eating at the moment seemed as unappealing as eating her moms dehydrated tuna casserole. Compared to the enthusiasm she displayed during breakfast, the sight looked downright pitiful. Instead she sat pretending not to be interested in the conversation going on at the next table over.

The rest of the cadets sat around Crystal hounding her with question after question. Crystal was none to pleased with the situation, more mildly irritated with the attention than anything, but she knew there was no way out unless she fulfilled their curiosity. It wasn’t her plan to sit with them, but as soon as she picked up her tray, she found herself surrounded from all sides.

“So you really don’t have a chip?” Jasmine asked.

“Nope,” Crystal replied between bites of meatloaf. It had taken all her willpower not to roll her eyes when David insisted on scanning her wrists as proof.

“So what does that mean?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time. My user probably didn’t go through the proper channels when they made me.”

Sasha knew it was ridiculous, but somehow even though she had only known Crystal for less than two days, she felt a sharp sting of betrayal when she had left her to sit with the others. It was unlike her, she knew, to feel so possessive. Crystal could sit with whomever the hell she wanted, but something about her reminded her of him. It was something about the way she seemed to look out for her. Her chest tightened at the thought of Brian. She missed him more than ever right now. She knew if it was any other time she wouldn’t have cared, but the fact that Crystal had chosen to sit elsewhere after Sasha had just made a spectacle of herself spoke volumes. So now she sat alone listening in on a conversation she wasn’t invited to.

“What do you mean probably? You talk like you don’t know.”

“I don’t know,” Crystal responded with a shrug. “I only have memories as Crystal, not my real self. I have no idea who I am. The S.P.P promised to find me, but they haven’t had any luck yet.”

The term Oblitussui popped into Sasha’s head for some odd reason, but she couldn’t remember what it meant.

“So what makes you so sure you’re a real person and not an AI?” David asked. Crystal let out an annoyed sigh before answering.

“Because it’s almost impossible to control an avatar without a person behind it. You’d have to be some kind of genius or something. I’ve seen the fakes before; they’re entirely robotic. They show no emotion and their glitchy as hell.”

“But how have you gotten by all this time without a chip? There’s ID check points all over the Sphere.”

“With this.” Crystal said pulling a card out of her pocket. “It’s primitive, but it works,” She said passing over the laminated card.

“S.P.P., wait, so you already work for the S.P.P?” Jasmine asked looking over the card. “Then why are you here?”

Sasha looked up from her tray and eyed the group as they passed around Crystal’s ID card. She already worked for the S.P.P? This was news to her.

“Not officially, I do odd jobs for the director in exchange for that card. She said if I graduated, she’d look into getting me a chip.” Crystal explained.

“So this must be normal for you then, living in a full dive.” Another girl spoke, twirling her long, curly red hair in her fingers.

“Nope, this is all new to me. I’ve only been in a full dive for a couple of days.”

“So if you’ve only been in a full dive since we started, wouldn’t that mean they already got in touch with your real self in order to get the implants?” Jasmine asked.

“They said they put a device in my head that mimics the effects of the implants. I finally feel like a real person and not just a bystander watching someone from the inside all this time.”

“How sad.”

“Don’t look now, but that weird girls watching us.” David said. Sasha quickly dropped her head when all eyes turned to her.

“So does she, like, talk to dead people or something?” The red head asked.

“No,” David said with an annoyed snort, “She’s just making stuff up for attention. She sent those messages to herself.”

“I don’t think it’s for attention; didn’t you see the look on her face? I think she really thought they came from someone else.” Jasmine said.

“She told me during the testing she was upset because her brother moved. He might’ve died.” Crystal said.

“So her brother died and now she thinks he’s sending her messages? How sad!”

“That’s not sad; that’s creepy! She’s obviously messed up in the head!” David said.

“Not so loud!” Jasmine hissed at him. “She’ll hear you.”

“You should report her to the director next time you see her, Crystal, I don’t think she’s cut out for this.” The red head said. Sasha stood up so fast she sent her table forward several inches with a loud grind. Her seat fell over, but she didn’t bother picking it up. She couldn’t stand listening to them for another second. She picked up her tray and dumped her un-eaten food away.

“I’m so sorry,” Sasha heard whispered in her ear. She spun around hoping to find someone standing besides her, but she was alone except for all the eyes watching her from the other side of the room. They were much too far away for any of them to have been the cause. Great, she thought as she spun back around and left. The last thing she needed was the voices in her head feeling sorry for her. How was she supposed to defend her sanity when she wasn’t even sure herself if she was anymore?  
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The green haired cadet was more than a little miffed at the people following her around. It was one thing to sit with her at lunch and dinner; another to follow her to the bathroom and showers as well. What had started as a minor nuisance had turned into a major pain in her ass. If she had to hear one more person say, “Have you tried…” or, “What if you…” she was going to put the speaker in a headlock. Of course she had already thought of all that already! Twice! It boiled down to two possibilities: she was a person suffering from a disease of the brain where her consciousness didn’t project correctly, or she was an advanced AI. She preferred to think of herself as a person; the possibility of being created was too depressing.

Crystal had never been so happy to receive a page from the director-even when it ordered her to go down to the lab. The thought of going down there was still better than staying up here with these prying people. When she excused herself from the group, they looked up at her full of awe and admiration. She had to close her eyes to keep them from rolling out their sockets. Being the directors’ pet wasn’t as glamorous as they made it out to be.

It was a pain getting down there. It took fifteen minutes just to get past all the security checkpoints. Turn left, go down the hallway, show her ID to the first guard. A nod of his head let her know she was free to proceed. Then it was through the large steel double doors, and down a second corridor, which leads to the second security checkpoint. She typed her password into the terminal. A door to her left opens to reveal the narrow, metal staircase that descended into the darkness below lit only by the red lights that casted an eerie glow. Her heavy boots on the metal staircase made her arrival known to all in the immediate area. When she made the last twist she found the door already opened for her- strange since she’d have to show the message, which summoned her to the person who answered the door, under normal circumstances. Crystal was allowed down here under direct orders and nothing else. She lacked the security clearance to come of her own free will- not that she wanted to- the place creped her out.

“Look at only what’s being shown to you,” was what she had been told her first time down here. A few trips to the fear chamber had taught her to keep her curiosity under control. “Don’t ask questions unless it involved her assignment,” was her second lesson. Machines and computers buzzed on all sides, but she kept her head straight resisting the urge to look around. She found the director hunched over a monitor showing the cadets heart rates and blood pressure, while talking with one of the many scientists. Crystal cleared her throat to let her presence be known.

“Oh, you made it; that was fast.” The director said. She stood back up and straightened her white lab coat out before motioning with her finger. “Please come with me; I want to hear your status report.” She led Crystal to a back office and offered her a small fold up chair. “I couldn’t help but notice the other subjects now know you work for me.” Crystal swallowed the lump that began forming in her throat. Her mission was to blend in; not stand out.

“Yes, I had to tell Barkley when he demanded to see my chip.” Crystal said.

“Did the others ask questions?”

“Non-stop.”

“What of your special project?”

“We haven’t spoken since she blew a hole in her foot.” Crystal said shaking her head. “ She’s different than when I first met her. She seemed more confident and collected back then, but now she seems like a different person. She says she’s eighteen, but I have a hard time believing that; she’s childish and has a hard time controlling her emotions.”

“What of the pill?”

“She spit it out when the med techs back was turned.”

“Interesting,” the director said, jotting down notes. “So she still rejects the idea that she’s ill.”  
“She still thinks her brother’s alive.” Crystal said.

“Is there a chance she’ll catch on?”

“Even if she does; no one would believe her. Everyone’s beginning to question her sanity after you made it seem like she sent herself those messages.”

“What do you mean? I didn’t have anyone change anything.” The director said.

“The messages you had me send her say they came from the same IP address.”

“Interesting. I’ll talk to the techs; maybe they did something. It would explain the readings we’ve been getting. What of the others? Are they suspicious of you?”

“No, they still believe they are training to be soldiers.” Crystal said.

“Good, very well then. You may leave.”

“Have you come any closer to a cure for me?” Crystal asked.

“No, we’ll be in touch if anything changes.”

With an inward sigh, Crystal stood and exited the office. She knew little about this project, but with every new detail she learned she liked it less and less. These people had dreams and ambitions. Why were they tricking them into believing they were in some kind of special school? Would the money they made after the trials make it worth it to them? Each and every one of the “subjects” was mentally ill in one way or another; even Crystal with her memory loss. This “S.P.P” was all a hoax to lure participants, but why? Wouldn’t the offer of money be enough incentive? To cure mental illness via virtual reality was their ultimate goal, but why all the secrecy?

Crystal squinted as she reached the surface again. This was going to crush Sasha. She was the only one who believed in making a difference in the virtual world. She would be- just not the way she had hoped. When Crystal had been given her file, it said she had a mild case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They were worried that the death of her brother might break her psych, so Crystal had been ordered to send her a few messages and hang out with her. She didn’t want to do it; she had seemed so nice when she had first met her. Crystal had even had to spend an afternoon in the fear chamber for disobeying a direct order. It wasn’t until they had threated to throw her in with the fakes had she agreed. This organization saved her from being deleted; they were all she had. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t get someone else who had PTSD. Lot’s of people had it, but the organization insisted it had to be her. So with a heavy heart Crystal had done it while reminding herself of the chip they had promised her. Once she had it she wouldn’t be stuck being the organizations dog anymore. She would be free.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………..

This was all her fault, Sasha thought as she collapsed on the bed. She should have never said anything. They didn’t know Brian like she did. So what if the messages came from the same IP address. She was sure loads of people could change it. Brian could have easily made it look that way to unsuspecting eyes. She didn’t know how, but she trusted him. He had even played a game with her! That she could not have imagined!

Sasha stayed in her room alone after dinner. Crystal was god-only-knows-where. They hadn’t spoken at all since this morning. She was curious about what they had been talking about before the conversation moved onto her. How could somebody not remember who they were?

The light clicked on in her head. That was the disorder that was on her remedial test. She couldn’t imagine not remembering her life as Becca. What would it be like to wake up one day in virtual reality and not know how you got there or who you were?

Sasha rolled over and faced the door when she heard it open. She flinched seeing the deep scowl on Crystal’s face.

“I thought I’d never get them to leave me alone!” Crystal said.

“Crystal,” Sasha said, staring back at the wall, “do you-” she started to say, before stopping and letting out an exasperated sigh. “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

“You started talking, so spill.”

“It’s about the messages. Do you think I sent them to myself?” Sasha asked. Crystal visibly flinched at the mention of them. Sasha’s heart felt like it sunk into the pit of her stomach. She wanted to smack herself. What was she expecting Crystal to say, “Everyone accidently sends themselves messages and thinks they come from dead relatives?”

“What do you think?” Crystal asked, after a moment of silence.

“I think my brother’s out there somewhere looking out for me like he always does. I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said during lunch.”

“Oh, you heard that? They don’t know what they’re talking about; don’t let it get to you.”

“No, not that, the part about you not knowing who you are.”  
“Oh, well, I’d rather not talk about it.”

“You talked about it with everyone else.” Sasha said under her breath, but still loud enough so Crystal could hear.

“I didn’t want to talk about it then either. Look, I just want to go to bed. I’m tired of everyone prying and adding their two cents.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sasha said. She was a bit disappointed, but she understood where she was coming from. When the lights were off and they were under the covers, she couldn’t help herself from asking, “Why have you been looking out for me? You don’t even know me that well, and I get the feeling you’re not that kind of person who looks out for everyone all the time.”

Crystal was silent for a long time; Sasha was beginning to think she had already fallen asleep. “I don’t know, maybe your little girl act works on me after all. You’re more innocent than the others. Sometimes I wonder if you are a little kid.” Crystal said, letting out a soft chuckle.

“Hey!” Sasha said.

“What’s it like to have a family?” Crystal asked. Now it was Sasha’s turn to remain quiet. The question had taken her by surprise.

“You really don’t remember, do you?”

“No, I don’t. There are so many things I’ve always wondered about. Who are my parents? How old am I? Do I have any siblings? Am I older or younger than them?”

“It has its up’s and down’s. I fight a lot with my mom, but I still love her. I got along- I mean, I get along best with my brother. I think you’d make a good older sister, you remind me a lot of him.”

“I’m so sorry,” Sasha heard whispered in her ear.

“Did you say so-“ she started to ask, but stopped when she realized Crystal was already sound asleep.


	25. Chapter 25

Sasha decided to take Crystal’s advice the next morning. No way was she going to let that stupid desk shock her again! This time she’d be ready! She had even set her alarm an hour earlier than yesterday, in order to sneak down to the kitchen to make herself some coffee. Lucky for her, they had modern appliances when it came to making coffee. At least they had their priorities in order here.

She stood to the side as she downed as many cups as she could, before she had to report to remedial lessons. She was determined to stay awake, even if she had a heart attack in the process. The warm bitterness felt so good against the chill of the morning air. Before it was time to leave, she topped off her mug once more, before making her way to the classroom.

When she got to the class, she had expected the holographic teacher to be waiting for her. Instead a silver metallic robot hovered in its place, its many arms going every which way as they moved about in constant motion. It was more like metal tentacles than arms, Sasha thought, as she stood in place trying to count them all.

“Good morning. You must be, Sasha,” it said. She wanted to groan. Its voice was more monotonous and boring than its holographic predecessor. “What is that you’re drinking, little girl?” She frowned at the little girl jab. Didn’t this bucket of bolts know what an avatar was?

“Uh, coffee.”

The robot wasn’t the only addition to the room. Several things appeared to have changed. A chalkboard now hung on the wall, and the entire row of desks had disappeared over night- all except one. It sat in the middle of the room facing the board. It seemed suspicious, but with no other options, she took a seat as she took another gulp of her drink.

“Little girls shouldn’t be drinking coffee; it’s bad for you. Don’t you want to grow up big and strong?”

Sasha was about to complain, but before she could get a single word out, a long metal tentacle wrapped around her thermos and snatched it out of her hands.

“Hey! Give it back!” She stood up, reaching into the empty air like a child that had their stuffed animal taken away. It was bad enough she had to be here, but now they were cutting her off? She had needs! “I’m not a little kid. I’m 18!”

The robot paused, as it looked her up and down with its metallic eyes that zoomed in on her. “Do not lie, little girl, my programmer has informed me that you are seven.” What? Seven! Stupid broken robot! Wait, programmer? Someone told it she was seven? “Maybe that is the reason you have so many accidents. Try drinking something more age appropriate, like juice or milk.”

Sasha’s jaw dropped as her face-flushed red. This had Barkley written all over it! How long was he going to try and humiliate her for? She grumbled and rested her face against her fist.

As the class session went on, one thing became clear. If she thought drinking six cups of coffee before class was a good idea, she was mistaken. This teacher was even duller than the last, except now, she was wide-awake.

“… And so even though this is virtual reality, that is why all good little boys and girls need to wash their hands after using the restroom.”

Sasha eye twitched. She didn’t know how much more she could take of this. If that thing called her a little girl one more time. The robot went on about the dangers of breaking good life long habits, leaving time for Sasha’s mind to wander.

Maybe she should try being friends with the others. Sure, they gossiped, but who didn’t? Her little spectacle would blow over with time. It didn’t mean she had to play nice with David; in fact, she couldn’t wait until they started sparring lessons so she could kick his ass. There was always Jasmine. She seemed nice. Or there was that red headed girl- what’s-her-name. As soon as they had a normal conversation with her, they’d see she was sane.

“Any questions?” The robot asked. When she didn’t respond, a metal tentacle prodded her in the shoulder. Once she came to, she shook her head. “Very well, I shall proceed with the next section.” No! She couldn’t take any more of this. She needed a break.

“Wait, um, can I go get something to drink?” She wanted to stretch her legs for a bit. She was too hyped up to stay still much longer, and if she had to listen to that voice any longer she’d go insane. She frowned when a spout appeared out of the robots body and filled a cup of water for her. “Well…that’s…convenient, I guess.” She sighed when it added a silly straw for her. At least it was purple. She took a sip and watched it loop and twist through the tubes. She smirked. Maybe she should push her luck and ask for a coloring book too. “Why are you treating me like little kid?”

“Because you are.” Sasha cocked her head to the side as she took another sip.

“Says who?” She asked through a mouth full of straw.

“Sacrio Psychiatric Pharmacology.”

Sasha shrugged. No one she had ever heard of. Must be the manufacturing company. At least it hadn’t said Barkley. Ugh, she couldn’t wait to get out of here. Breakfast sounded nice. She hoped there’d be bacon. Her stomach growled. She shouldn’t have had so much coffee on an empty stomach. Bacon sounded so good right now. Sacrio Psychiatric Pharmacology… Why did that sound so familiar? And why was there a robot from a pharmaceutical company here with her?

“Shall we continue?”

It was on the tip of her tongue… Sacrio…Psychiatric…Pharmacology… S.P.P. No…it couldn’t be! What was going on? Lot’s of things had those initials, right?

“Are you listening?” The robot asked. It poked her again with a metal tentacle.

“What is the S.P.P?” She was beginning to panic. Her chest tightened.

“Which one?” The robot asked. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was getting worked up over nothing. So then why was there this nagging feeling in the back of her head? If they knew she had a mental illness, why had they let her join? She was nothing special, so why? Why would they make a special exception for her? Maybe they saw through her diagnosis…maybe they knew she wasn’t crazy. Why then would they make her take medications? This wasn’t adding up! She couldn’t breathe! Why couldn’t she breathe?!

Sasha stood up, knocking her chair back in the process. She ran for the door. Locked! Why was it locked? She tugged and tugged, but it wouldn’t budge!

“Class is not over. Please remain seated.” Its voice was so calm. Why was it so calm? Couldn’t it see something was wrong with her? What was wrong? Her voice was coming in ragged gasps. Was this…an asylum? Had her parents had her committed? Did they think she was a danger to society? Why? Did they know she was responsible for Brian? It was an accident! Were they afraid of her? Did Brian tell them it was her fault? No.. no.. NO.

“NO! NO! THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!” She pounded on the door. “LET ME OUT! SOMEONE LET ME OUT!” Things were going black. She was losing consciousness. Why? She stumbled against the door and slid to the floor. She saw the half empty glass sitting on the desk. The water! It was poisoned! The door opened. Crystal!

“Sasha!” Her voice was so far away. She reached out for her. Her face was blurry. She was shaking her. “Sasha!”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Crystal sat in the chair and studied the Doctors expression while he watched the surveillance video. What the hell happened? One minute she had been fine, and the next she ran head first towards the door. His face was like stone. He was expressionless and unwavering. She wished he wasn’t wearing earplugs. She wanted to hear what was being said.  
Crystal wasn’t sure whose expression was worse: the doctors or Sasha’s. She sat on the edge of the table with a blanket wrapped around her. Her body trembled, but Crystal wasn’t sure if it was the chill in the air or not. She hadn’t said a word since she had woken up on the table. She just stared straight ahead at the wall.

“Well, everything seems normal.” The doctor said. “Scans show nothing wrong.”

“Then what happened?” Crystal asked.

“Panic attack.”

“It wasn’t a panic attack!” Their heads turned towards Sasha. It was the first thing she had said since. “I’ve had panic attacks before; they’ve never felt that intense.” The fire in her eyes seemed to diminish and she stared back at the wall. “There was something in the water.”

Crystal glanced at the doctor, but he shook his head.

“Tox screen came back fine. The table showed nothing out of the ordinary in her system. Given her history, all signs point to nothing more than a panic attack.”

“It wasn’t a panic attack!” Sasha said. “I-it-it wasn’t!” Crystal frowned. Something was off.

“I think you should take the day off. Get some rest. Have you been sleeping?” The doctor asked. Sasha scowled, but remained silent before breaking out in sobs.

“What’s wrong?” Crystal asked as she stood next to the table.

“Wh-What is this place?” Sasha asked, clinging on to her side. “Is this really a school?” Crystal could feel her blood run cold. How had she found out? “I’m in an asylum, aren’t I? My parents had me committed!” Crystal breathed a sigh of relief. At least she didn’t have to lie.

“No, you’re not in an asylum.” Crystal said. She took a seat next to the trembling girl who buried her head in the green haired girls shoulders shoulder and cried. Crystal patted her back. She looked to the doctor for help. This wasn’t right. She knew Sasha was…young for her age, but this? There was no way she was 18! “Hey, c’mon, what makes you think this is an asylum?”

“Be-because I thought… I thought. There’s no way some elite school would pick me knowing I was…like this! The robot said-“

“Why don’t you take her to her room?”

“What did the robot say?” Crystal asked the Doctor.  
“Nothing of importance.” He shrugged. “People with anxiety disorders don’t always need a trigger to have panic attacks. They happen.”

“Can I watch the video with sound?” Crystal asked.

“You didn’t miss anything. I think the best thing to do is take her to her room.”

“I’m tired.” Sasha said, half mumbling into Crystal arm.

“Then how did the door lock from the inside?” Crystal asked. He shrugged again.

“A malfunction in the robot?” Crystal narrowed her eyes, but let it go.

“Let’s go, Sasha.” She helped her stand up. She seemed to wobble a bit before getting her footing, so Crystal half-walked, and half dragged her out. She needed to figure out what she knew now. This wasn’t a simple panic attack; she was in shock. Why though? What had that robot told her? The look in Sasha’s eyes was the look of someone who just watched their life’s hopes and dreams get swept away. She knew. How did she know?

…………………………………………………………..

Sasha curled up in bed when they got up to their room and threw the covers over her head.

“It’s not an asylum.” Crystal said. “I work here; I’d know.” A tear streaked face poked out.

“Promise?”

“Promise. Have you ever been in an asylum?” Sasha shook her head. “Trust me. It’s not an asylum.”

“Thank you for saving me. Again. How did you know I was in trouble?”

“Because you were screaming like a maniac.” Crystal said with a smirk. “Are you cold?”

“No.”

“Then why are you shaking?” Sasha’s head ducked back under the covers. “What’s wrong with you today? You’re acting odd.”

“It wasn’t a panic attack. I’ve never felt so afraid.” Crystal sat on the edge of the bed, unsure of what to do. She stretched her hand towards the lump underneath the blankets before retracting it. She repeated the process, until she had managed to make contact. Physical contact felt awkward to her, but it seemed like the right thing to do. The lump was trembling. Why?

“Are you afraid now?”

“Yes.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t know.” Sasha said.

The doctor was hiding something. She needed to see that video, but how? She looked at the time. It was almost breakfast. The doctor would be in the cafeteria. Could she sneak into sickbay and watch it? Or should she ask director Aspen? It was Crystal’s job after all to keep an eye on her. Why did Sasha need someone to watch her though? What was so special about her? She looked like nothing more than a scared child cowering under the blankets.

The lump began to move towards her until it came to rest in her lap. Was she really this scared? Her first reaction was to shove her off. This much physical contact was way outside Crystal’s comfort zone, but the lump underneath the covers looked so pitiful.

“It was like I realized my life had no meaning.” Sasha said.

“What? I don’t get it? What’s that have to do with thinking you were in an asylum. I don’t even understand why you thought that.”

“The robot said something about a psychiatric company with the same initials as the S.P.P. I’ve never felt anything like it. I was fine and then…”

“What?”

“It felt like there was no hope for me. My life meant nothing, my dreams, my… everything. Things became so clear. It was like my eyes were opened for the first time and I realized I was nothing. It should have been me. My parents would be happier if it had been me.”

“You’re not nothing, Sasha. I don’t know why you felt that way.” Crystal said. She wrapped her arms around her. It seemed like the right thing to do, but she couldn’t be sure. She was an object to be used. She lied, she stole, she manipulated all on the directors behalf. She did not comfort. She did not love.

So then what was this she was feeling? Why did she feel this ache at her very core? They had taught her indifference, so why? She didn’t know her, and yet, she wanted to take away her pain. Not just that, but she felt her pain. Sharp pangs of loneliness left her breathless. So much loneliness. Sasha’s shaking was worse. No…it was she that was shaking. She was…crying? Why? They both were. She could feel Sasha wrap her arms her. The darkness she felt ebbed away bit by bit. Was this the power of another’s touch? Crystal tightened her grip in return. And they cried.

“Would you stay with me until I fall asleep?” Sasha asked. Yes, they could be lonely together.

“Sure thing.”


	26. Chapter 26

Crystal sat in the cafeteria by herself as she nibbled on a piece of toast. She waited and watched. Any minute now he would come, and then, she would make her move. There was this nagging suspicion that the doctor had hid something, but why? Wasn’t she also part of the team? If Sasha was her responsibility to keep an eye on, why were they still keeping secrets? Unless the doctor had told her the truth, and there really hadn’t been anything in particular that set her off. This girl was more trouble than she was worth, Crystal thought with a frustrated sigh.

The entrance of a man wearing a long white lab coat signaled it was time to make her move. She waited a second as the Doctor stood in line with the others to get breakfast. With his back to her, she stood and made her way towards the door.

“Crystal! There you are! The dishes are pilling up back here!” A voice called from behind the buffet station. Crap! Don’t act suspicious. Everyone was staring at her now, including the doctor.

“I’m sorry, I’m busy right now.” Crystal said. The red head scowled. Crystal only knew her from her file as Subject 1254 with a diagnosis Intermittent Explosive Disorder. She was a ticking time bomb. There was a fury in her brown eyes that had been ignited. Crystal gulped. She’d be in trouble if 1254 went off and caused a scene. Now wasn’t the time for this!

“What? Just because you do stuff for the director, doesn’t mean you’re above us! Get back here and do your job!”

“She’ll be along in a minute. There was an emergency this morning.” The doctor said. The red head seemed to relax at this. Her angry expression morphed into one of concern. As suspicious as he was, Crystal owed him one. The fire had been extinguished for now.

“Th-thanks.” Crystal said. “I-I just came down to get her some breakfast. She’s better now.”

“Glad to hear.” He said, turning away from her. She breathed a sigh of relief. That was close!

Crystal made a beeline for the sickbay terminal. Only the staff got access to their avatar’s Sphere menus. She on the other hand, was in the same boat with the subjects. It would help her blend in, she was told. Now that the cat was out of the bag, she’d have to ask the director to lift her ban on hers. She missed having her own personal search engine controlled by her thoughts. If she wanted to know something, all she had to do was think about it. Without it, she felt lost and confused. She wondered, for a brief moment, what life was like outside her avatar. How did people live outside the Sphere?

With one last glance over her shoulder, she sat at his desk in front of the terminal. Now where was the surveillance footage he had been watching? There it was! Now for the unpleasant part. She took the auxiliary cord and traced along the back of her neck, until she found the port. She shuddered a bit as she plugged herself in to the terminal. She couldn’t wait until she had a chip! Then she could just connect herself to via Bluetooth like everyone else. All avatars had a port to connect to terminals, but they were becoming more and more obsolete now that most people were getting their chips swapped for newer models. It almost seemed like she was the only one who had to do this anymore.

With the ban in place, she couldn’t watch the file in her mind, but at least she could store it for later. Crystal checked her storage capacity. Good, still plenty of space. She downloaded the video file into her mind while she checked for other things. The terminal was full of medical reports about the subjects, both avatar and their human selves. A few minutes of searching revealed Sasha’s file. It was quite a bit larger than the one than the director had sent her, and according to the file, it had been just been updated this morning. She didn’t have time to sit through and read it, so she downloaded that too.

She gasped a little at the sound of footprints approaching. No! The file was only half way done downloading! What should she do? If she was caught… She had to think fast. She could pretend to be playing a game, but how would she explain the cord in her head? She had to think of something… This was a terrible idea, but she had no choice! She grimaced and typed in a few keywords, before minimizing the window and bringing up Solitaire.

“Crystal?” The Doctor asked, as he came in through the door. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry, I wanted to speak with you in private, about this morning. I thought it would be best to wait here for you.” She said. She could feel her heart beating in her chest. She was a terrible liar and she knew it.

“What are you doing on my computer?” He asked.

“Sorry, I was just playing a game.” She said. He narrowed his eyes as they traveled from the terminal, to the wire in the back of her head.

“You’re downloading something. Get up! Were you snooping through the patient files!?”

“N-no, I’m not; I swear!” She said. She moved in front of the screen. Her voice was rising too much. Damn it! She was busted. He bent over her, opened up the window, and took in what she had looked up. She watched his face go from an angry scowl to bright red in embarrassment.

“You’re downloading porn into your avatar!” He said. Crystal’s face turned bright red as they both looked away from each other. A ding let her know her download was done. She pulled the cord out of her neck and tried to dash out. “Sit back down, Crystal. Let’s talk.” She cringed as she crept towards the bed he pointed to, and took a seat. “I’m aware that you have a… unique background.”

“Y-yes. Ever since the implants were put it in...” She stopped mid sentence and looked away. “It-It’s my first time feeling these things.” If he looked her in the eyes he’d see past her lie.

He cleared his throat. “Yes, those feelings are quite normal, and…and nothing to be embarrassed about. This must be quite a confusing time for you. You’ve lived your whole life here in the Sphere, and now that you have all of your senses for the first time. It makes sense that your sex drive would awaken as well. Didn’t they upload those explanations into you when they brought you here?”

“Umm, yeah, but it’s different when it’s happening.” She lied. “They focused more on the important stuff: basic avatar health and safety, Sphere history, a few languages. That sort of thing. There were only bits and pieces.”

“Ah, yes, if I remember correctly, you couldn’t talk when they brought you in. Well, I suppose someone should explain these things to you.” Crystal listened for as long as she could, nodding here and there at appropriate times. The conversation went from hormones and menstruation, to sexually transmitted malware. She had to resist the urge to groan when he told her to be careful who she let stick their flash drive in her. He chucked at his own joke. She had to change the subject.

“Well, heh, no, I’m not really interested in flash drives right now. What I had come here to talk about was Sasha.” Crystal said.

“Ooh, I see what you’re saying. No wonder you’re so confused. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Huh?”

“They downloaded basic sex education, but you’re confused because you’re not interested in flash drives; you’re interested in ports, is that it?”

“Interested in… ports? Woah! No! That’s not what I meant!” Crystal said, as she waved her arms about. Now it was her turn to feel embarrassed.

“I won’t tell anyone. I’m sure Sasha’s a great girl. It must be difficult being in such close quarters with her while you’re experiencing all these new things.”

“I’m not gay!” Crystal said, nearly shouting. “Or a pedophile.” She mumbled.

“You know she’s not really a child, right?” He laughed.

“Well, that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” Crystal said, regaining her composure. “I’ve been noticing something odd lately. She seems to be…regressing.”

“So you’ve noticed that too, have you?” He asked. His large blue eyes fell, and his playful tone grew serious.

“Why? What’s going on? The file I received from the director didn’t say anything about mental regression. She was just supposed to have a slight case of PTSD.”

“My guess is her mind is regressing her back to the age she was during the original trauma.” He said. “She’s a special case and very valuable. Please continue watching out for her. These experiments can be brutal on the psych.”

“Experiments?” Crystal asked. She noticed his face fall. “Aren’t you just watching how the mind works in different scenarios?”

“Y-yes, that’s what I meant. When I said, ‘experiment’ I meant putting the subjects in controlled environments that would bring out different psychological responses. Like the good tasting food for example. The others are expressing joy while they eat, but Jasmine, who is anorexic, sees the food as a negative thing. Her brain is reacting differently to the environment, and we are trying to learn why in order to fix it.” He said. “How do we turn that negative into a positive? And then there’s Barkley. His classes induce anxiety responses, doubly so for someone like Sasha; except for David, who takes pleasure in seeing others pain. We are learning so much in what makes people tick. We have been collecting some very valuable research data.”

“That’s good I guess.” Crystal said. She shrugged. It’s not like anyone was in danger. “So does Sasha’s user have that problem too? Mental regression? Does she go through phases or something?”

“That’s the part I don’t really understand. Her mind only regresses when she’s in virtual reality. Since people can’t spend more than six hours a day logged into the Sphere, It hasn’t had enough time to really rear its head. She goes back to normal once she logs out. Now that we’ve been monitoring her in virtual reality for several days thanks to the drug, we’ve seen a sharp decline in mental age. Since her trauma occurred in virtual reality, I think her mind is trying to regress her back to the age it happened in an attempt to heal itself. We’ve never seen this before.”

“Interesting. It would explain her strange behavior and why she seemed so different when I first met her.” Crystal said. “Is this anything to worry about? Is she really going back to five? She’s not going to get stuck like that, is she? I know I’m playing babysitter, but I didn’t know it was going to be literal. I don’t want a five-year-old roommate!”

“Well, we’ll be monitoring her. To be honest, I don’t know what’s happening.”

“What happened when she was five? Was this really all from seeing a few cartoon characters fight? It seems a bit silly.” Crystal said.

“A child’s mind is different than an adult’s. Trauma from early childhood can stay with a person into their adult life whether they realize it or not. I have a theory that her fear of these cartoon animals is just a stand in for something else.”

“You think something else happened? She’s only ever mentioned the ponies before.”

“She might not remember what happened. I have a feeling her mind is harboring a repressed memory from that day, and that’s why her mind is trying to go back to that time. It’s possible that once her mind has fully regressed, it will resurface.”

“Do you think she should remember it though? If it was so bad that she repressed it…”

“At this rate, I don’t think she has much of a choice. For some reason her mind wants to go back.”

“What if there was a way to pull that memory out? Would it stop the regression? If her mind wants to remember it, wouldn’t it be best to make her remember as an adult instead of a young child?” Crystal suggested.

“Hmm, it’s a thought. I could bring it up to the board during our next meeting and see what they say. I’m not sure, they might want to wait and see how this plays out.” He said mulling the thought over in his mind. “Anyway, do you have any questions about what we talked about?”

Crystal’s face reddened as she looked away. “No, I’m good. Thank you.” She watched as he bent down and retrieved something out of a drawer, before sticking out his arm towards her. She held out her hand as something was dropped into her open palm. Her blush deepened. Malware condoms.

“Be safe.” He said.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She said as she stood and headed for the door. “One more thing. Was there really nothing in the water?”

“There may have been a slight stimulant added to induce results. It didn’t mix well with all the caffeine.” He admitted. Crystal sighed. Just how far were these people going to go for their data?


End file.
